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HISTQRYo^ 



in Words of 
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George ^outledge& Soxs, 








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ij^jlf* 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 
~^n\ 

Shelf ...S-li- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




BRI-AN BOR-U, ON THE PLAINS OF CLON-TARF. 



HISTORY OF IRELAND 



IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE 



BY, 



AGNES SADLIER 



COP/O USL Y ILL US TRA TED 




/ 



NEW YORK *~^ 

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS 

9 Lafayette Place 



IT' 






IN UNIFORM STYLE, 
Words of One Syllable. 



illusthated. 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
HISTORY OF UNITED STATES. 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 
IIISTOR Y OF IRELAND. 



GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, 

9 Lafayciie I lute. New York 



Copyright, 1885, 
Bv Acnes Sadi.ier. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 
Ire-land in its First Known Days . 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Pat-rick Comes to Ire-land 14 

CHAPTER III. 
Pat-rick Goes to Ta-ra 18 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Dan-es Land in Ire-land, ~ 24 

CHAPTER V. 
Bri-an Bo-ru, 29 

CHAPTER VI. 
End of the War with the Dan-es 34 

CHAPTER VII. 
Tin: En-glish come to Ire-land 37 

CHAPTER VIII. 
King Hen-ry II. comes to Ire-land, 43 

CHAPTER IX. 
Kino John comes to Ire-land, 46 

CHAPTER X. 
Bruce Tries to Free Ire-land 51 



Contents. 

I'AGE. 

CHAPTER XI. 
Art McMur-rough, King of Lein-ster, ... -57 

CHAPTER XII. 
En-glish Laws for Ire-land. The Dukf of York, . . 60 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Tin-: Earls of Kil-dare 64 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Pro-test-ant Rule 69 

CHAPTER XV. 
Sham: O'Neill 74 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Tin: Ger-ald-ine Lea-gue, 75 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Hugh O'Neill 80 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Tin. Reign of Char-lfs I., 82 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Crom-well's Rule — Ciiar-i.es II., 85 

CHAPTER XX. 
James II 88 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Pe-nal Laws, 95 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Tin: I-rish Par-lia-ment Erfed, 99 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Tin-: U-ni-ted I-rish-men, 103 



Contents. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Wolff. Tone Seeks Aid of French and Dutch, 107 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The Ri-sing of 1798, .• 110 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
End of the War, 115 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
The U-nion — Rob-ert Em-met, 125 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Death of Em-met — Hard Times 131 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Dan-tee O'Con-nell 137 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Dan-iel O'Con-nell, 146 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
O'Con-nell Fails to Get Re-peal, 158 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Smith O'Bri-en and his Men 166 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Par-nell and his Men 177 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
A Deed of Blood — Hard Times Once More, .... 188 



History of Ireland. 



CHAPTER I. 



IRELAND IN ITS FIRST KNOWN DAYS. 

High up from the main land 
of Eu-rope, and cut off from it 
by deep, wild seas that toss great 
white waves on their shores, lie 
two isles which bore the name 
of the Isles of the North when 
those who gave it did not know 
much else of them. One has 
now for a long time been known 
as En-gland, and one as Ire- 
land. The old name of Ire-land was Hi-ber-ni-a 
or E-rin, and the folks there bore the name of Celts. 
The Celts seem to have known more than the Brit- 
ons, and a great deal for those days. The air there 
was mild ; great woods of birch, oak, and ash trees 
rose through the land, fish were thick in the streams, 




AT THE GI-ANT S CAUSE-WAY 



8 History of Ireland. 

the soil was rich, and the Celts knew how to grow 
wheat. 

The great place of the land was Tar-a. Five 
great roads led to it, one from each part of the isle, 
and here dwelt the High-King of the land. The 
isle was cut in four parts, and a piece of ground 
from each of these four parts where they met went 
to form Tar-a. The four parts had for names : 
Lein-ster, Ul-ster, Mun-ster, and Con-naught. Each 
of these parts had a king who dwelt 'neath the rule 
of the High-King. Each third year these five 
kings, and all the wise men of the realm, and the 
dru-ids or priests, met at Tar-a to find out the state 
of the folks, and make laws if need were. 

The gods of the Celts were Ba-al, the sun, and 
Re, the moon. They had but one i-dol of wood, 
which bore the name of Crom. They gave to these 
gods the spoils which they won in time of war, and 
in time of peace, the fruits of the earth. The Celts 
thought that there were spir-its, too ; such as the 
Phook-a, who took the shape of man or beast to 
lure folks to death, and the Ban-shee, who told when 
death was near by moans and sighs of deep grief. 

The dru-ids, or priests, held great might, and all 
the choice things of the land were theirs. No war 
was made till they said it might be done, and no 
peace was made or kept if they said it should not be. 



io History of Ireland. 

Like the Brit-ons, the Celts dwelt in huts of 
wood and clay, though the chiefs had homes of 
stone. These huts had a hole in the roof to let out 




ST. PAT-RICK'S CA-THE-DRAL, DUB-LIN. 



the smoke. The poor wore skins of beasts, but the 
rich had clothes of soft wool, of a gold or white hue. 
The men wore dark red cloaks with a gold brooch 



Ireland in its First Known Days. 1 1 

to clasp them on the breast ; their wives wore white 
caps which they strove to have as nice as they could 
be made, and cloth cloaks with fringe. Each dame 
of high birth had a head-dress of gold. A slave 
could have but one hue in his dress. 

The Celts knew well how to fight and hunt. In 
their great oak and birch woods dwelt the wolf, the 
red deer, the wild boar, and the brown bear. 

They had huge bows of oak whose strings were 
made out of the hide of beasts. From these bows 
they shot darts of flint. Each man had an ax, too, 
a long, sharp, dark green spear, and a knife made 
of flint. They had war cars, some of which 
were drawn by four steeds, and the shields of 
the chiefs were bright with the fine ores which 
the Celts had dug out of the earth. The chiefs, 
too, wore gold chains, and their swords had hilts 
of gold. 

For food the Celts had fish, flesh, and fowl. The 
trout, pike, and smelt swam in their streams, and we 
know what good food these are ; and the crane and 
duck were to be found in the isle, too. They had 
milk, for the Celts' great wealth was in cows, and 
they had bees to give them hon-ey. They knew 
how to make bread, which they put to bake on the 
hearth. The rich had pots of brass in which to 
boil their meat, but the poor had to put it on a spit 



12 



History of Ireland. 



to roast. They had cheese, too, made in the shape 

of bricks. 

They had knives of flint, the same as those which 

they took to the 
hunt or to war, but 
no forks. There 
were no chairs, and 
a bench ran round 
the walls of the 
room. When night 
came they had to 
put fire on large 
flat stones and 
place these in the 
parts of the room 
where there was 
need of light. As 
time went on, wicks 
with wax round 
them came in use 
at Tar-a. Here 
the bards sang to 
the sound of their 

CHOIR OF ST. PAT-RICK'S CA-THE-DRAL, DUB-LIN. hor*r»Q f"V|P DT^ISP 

or blame of their chiefs in war. Each great chief 
had a bard of his own. At Tar-a, too, the great 
fairs were held. On one night in the year, which 




Ireland in its First Known Days. 13 

is that of our feast of All-Saints, all the fires in the 
land had to be put out, and be lit once more with 
fire from the Hill of Tar-a, for which each one 
had to pay three cents to the King of Mun-ster. 

One of these High-Kings had wells dug for the 
folks, and one rave lands to all who knew arts 
to teach to the folks, and built a school at 
Tar-a which bore the name of "the house of the 
wise." 

The drink of the Celts was mead, which they 
drank out of horns, some of which were of gold, or 
stone cups. Stone cups were put at all the wells. 

The Celts had coin in use, too, in those old days, 
which bore the form of Hi-ber-ni-a, with a wand in 
her hand on which a snake wound. If you were to 
turn the coin you would find the head of a horse 
on it. The Celts were most fierce in war, and their 
war cry was Fall on ! Fall on ! Smiths went with 
them to the fight to mend their swords, wise men 
to staunch their wounds, and the dru-ids to praise 
or blame. 

The Celts knew how to play chess, but most of 
all, when they sat round their fires, did they love to 
hear the bards sing to the sound of their harps, of 
the pride of the race or clan of which they were. 



CHAPTER II. 

PATRICK COMES TO IRELAND. 

The last High-King of E-rin, ere the faith of 
Christ was brought to her shores, was Dath-y. 
He was brave and great in war, and led his troops 
to Gaul [France] to fight. He won, but at the foot 
of the Alps he died, and his men brought him back 
to E-rin and put him with the dead kings of the 
land. It was such men as he who kept the 
Ro-mans out of the isle ; the Celts were so brave 
that when they were led by great chiefs they were 
sure to gain the day. 

But the time was now ripe for the seed of faith 
to be sown in Ire-land, and God sent Saint Pat-rick 
to do this good work. It seems that Pat-rick was 
born in Gaul, and that his real name was Sue-cat, 
which means brave in war. When but a boy, the 
troops of the I-rish king Ni-all took him to Ire-land 
as a slave and sold him to a man of the name of 
Mil-cho, in the coun-ty of An-trim, who put him to 
feed sheep or swine. 

Here the boy led a hard, lone life for six years, 



Patrick Comes to Ireland. 



15 



and he would have been more sad than he was were 
it not for the thoughts of God that were in his heart, 
and the help he got from Him. 

At last, in the qui-et of the night, a voice that 
was not of earth spoke, and told him to go to a port 
near by, where he 
would find a ship that 
would take him to his 
own land, The boy 
so, 




THE FOUR COURTS, DUB-LIN. 



got to the ship those on board cried out : " Do not 
try to come with us," and the boy went back. But 
soon a man came to him and said: "Come, they 
call you." And Sue-cat went on board, and so got 
back to his own land. 



1 6 History of Ireland. 

When he grew up he was made a priest. But 
all the time he thought of the poor folks in the isle 
where he had been a slave, who knew not Christ. 
So he went to the pope and told him of his wish to 
go and spread the true faith there. The pope was 
glad to hear it, and said he might. He then gave 
him the name of Pat-rick, which means great. 

From Rome Pat-rick came back to the north of 
Gaul, and there was made bish-op. Then he set 
sail for Ire-land. He got to shore at a point near 
Dub-lin. A man came out to drive him back, with 
a band of men with spears, but when he found out 
who Pat-rick was and what he had come for, he got 
to be friends with him and let him tell of Christ. 
This man bore the name of Di-cho. He was the 
lord of the soil, and, with all in his house, was 
made a Christ-ian. 

Af-ter a brief stay with him, Pat-rick set out tor 
the place where Mil-cho dwelt, with whom he had 
been a slave. When Mil-cho heard that Pat-rick 
was on the road to him, it is said that his rage was 
so great that he set fire to his house and died in 
the flames. 

Pat-rick went on to Tar-a. He got to a spot near 
it on the eve of Eas-ter Sun-day, and lit the fire 
which the Church says must be lit on that day. 
Now, on this night at Tar-a, w r as held the feast of 



Patrick Comes to Ireland. 



17 



the fire of Ba-al, at which time all fires were put 
out and not lit till the fire was seen on the hill of 
Tar-a. So when the red light of Pat-rick's fire 
shone, the king's wrath was great, and he set out at 
at once with all his men that fought in war, and 
bards, and dru-ids, to find out who the man was 
that had been so rash as to break this rule. When 
he came to the spot, he sent men to bring Pat-rick 
to him. Then the kin£ told all who had come with 
him to show in no way that they held Pat-rick great 
when he should be brought in. But in spite of 
this, when the saint came, a man of the name of 
Ere rose up and made a bow to him. For this 
God gave him grace to be a Christ-ian, and in 
course of time he was made a bish-op. The king 
said much to Pat-rick, and Pat-rick said much to 
the king ; and the end of it was that Pat-rick was 
told to come to Tar-a the next day and talk with the 
wise men of the land. 







j? 




$^iim0^^ 



Arms of the Roy-al I-rish A-cad-e-my. 



CHAPTER III. 

PATRICK GOES TO TARA. 

The next day was Eas-ter Sun-day, a day most 
fit for such a -scene. The small band set out for the 
king's home, where he and his court sat in state to 
meet them. On the way Pat-rick went first, clad 
in his long white robes, and with a staff in his hand. 
Eight priests were with him, clad in white robes, 
too, and they all sang hymns as they went. 

The king had said once more that no one should 
show by his acts that he held Pat-rick great ; but in 
spite of his words his chief bard and dru-id, by 
name Dub-tach, rose up and made a bow to the 
saint. Then Pat-rick spoke. He told them of 
Christ, and so sweet, so grand were his words, that 
the king, though he would not be a Christ-ian, said 
the saint might preach all through the land, and 
' make Christ-ians of all who should wish to be made 
so. 

So Pat-rick went through the land. When he 
got near Con-naught he met two fair young girls, 
daugh-ters of the king. They had heard the chant 




SAINT PAT-RICK GO-ING TO TAR-A. 



20 History of Ireland. 

of the priests as they came, and when they caught 
sight of them in their white robes, and found that 
the priests held no books from which to read what 
they sang, they thought that they must be from on 
high, and said to them : "Who are ye ? Are ye of 
the sea, the sky, or the earth?" Then Pat-rick 
told them of the true God. "But where does He 
dwell?" said they. "In the sea, or in the sun, or 
on the hills, or in the vales, or in the streams ? ' 
And Pat-rick told them that all the world, and the 
sea, and the sky, too, was the home of his God ; 
and the young girls heard his words and in that 
same hour were made Christ-ians. Then the saint 
went on to Mun-ster. The king there came forth 
to meet him and told him of his great wish to hear 
of Christ. So Pat-rick told of the true God, and 
the king made up his mind to be a Christ-ian. In 
the midst of his court, who held great state, Pat-rick 
made him so. The saint had in his hand a staff 
which had at its end a long, sharp pike by which 
to plant it in the ground, and he now did so, but 
did not know that he had put it through the king's 
foot till the blood w r as in a stream on the ground. 
The saint told the king how sad he felt for this act, 
which he had not meant ; but the king said he did 
not mind, that he thought it was what all men had 
to bear who were made Christ-ians. 



Patrick Goes to Tar 



21 



Pat-rick now went to Ul-ster. Here a rich chief 
gave him ground on which to build a great church. 
The town of Ar-magh now stands on the spot. 
But the saint's work was done and his death was at 
hand. He went to a still spot, wrote a book of 
his life and work, and then died on the 17th day of 




CUS-TOM HOUSE, DUB-LIN. 



March, four hun-dred and nine-ty-two years after 
our Lord had come on earth. 

He who had been Hi^h-kin^ when Pat-rick came 

to Ire-land, had died while the saint did his oreat 

*-* 

work. The king who came next was not a Christ- 
ian, and when he had been on the throne for quite 




IN-TE-RI-OR OF THE LI-BRA-RY, TRIN-I-TY COL-LEGE. 



Patrick Goes to Tara. 



23 



a long time, he was slain by the son ot him who 
had been Hi^h-kin^ when Pat-rick came. At this 
time some of the I-rish who had gone to Scot-land 
to live were made to go out of that land by the 
Picts, for such was the name of the folks there. So 
more of the I-rish, led by Fer-gus, went to try to 
gain Scot-land. They took with them the Stone of 
Des-ti-ny on which to crown Fer-gus. These staid 
in Scot-land and from them sprang the Stu-art race 
of Scot-land. 

While Saint Pat-rick was still with men, a child 
was born to whom they gave the name of Brig-id. 
When she had grown up, she went with eight more 
young girls of high birth to dwell in a con-vent at 
Kil-dare. She was a great saint, and the I-rish 
folks had, and still have, a deep love for her. So 
we see that the two names of Brig-id, or Bridg-et, 
as we now spell it, and Pat-rick, were borne by 
great saints ; and that is why they are so much in 
use by the I-rish race, who love to give them to 
their girls and boys. 




Arms of Ire-land. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE DANES LAND IN IRELAND. 

Der-mid I. was now High-king. The yel-low 
plague swept through the land in his time and slew 
a great part of the folks. By this time schools had 
been built, and in this king's reign more were built, 
and from far lands men came to learn at the great 
I-rish schools. Not only did the men in these 
schools know a great deal, but they led such 
good and grand lives that soon Ire-land got 
the name of the "Isle of Saints." A throne of 
great I-rish-men went forth, too, to teach in Gaul, 
in Ger-ma-ny, and in En-gland. Saint Co-lum-ba 
went to the Picts, in Scot-land, to tell them of 
Christ. He built a great place for monks in I-on-a, 
and a great throng went there to dwell with him. 

The monks who taught these schools knew all 
that could be learned in that age of the world, and 
could do some things that can not be done so well 
in our own day. As proof of this we may cite the 
Book of Kells, that is, the four Gos-pels, which is 
to-day in Trin-i-ty Col-lege, Dub-lin. Kells was a 
town that grew up in Meath in the days when the 
monks had to flee from I-on-a for fear of the Danes. 
They did not then know how to print, as we do, 



The Danes Land in Ireland. 2 5 

and all things in the shape of books had to be done 
by hand. The Book of Kells was done by Saint 
Co-lum-ba. We can give you no just thought of 
how fine and well made are the let-ters in this book ; 
the best of type could not give us the like. Some 
who have seen it have said that it is the work not 




ON THE LEE, CORK. 



of men, but of one from on high. It is done on 
vel-lum, that is, fine white calf-skin, and has round 
each page fine views of trees and birds in choice 

tints and hues. 

In the reign of Char-le-magne, in France, one 
great I-rish-man went from his own land to Par-is 
to found a school there, and one went to Pa-vi-a to 
do the same. 



2b 



History of Ireland. 



While Der-mid was on the throne, and when the 
kings and wise men oi the realm were met at Tar-a 
to find out the state of the land and of the folks, 
and make laws if need were, a prince there slew a 
man. Now to break the peace at this time by a 
rough act was held to be so wrong that if a man 




SHAN-DON ON THE LEE. 



did it, he had to die. But, to save his life, this 
prince fled to a church near by, for it was a rule in 
those days that if a man got to a church he was not 
to be brought out, nor slain in the church. But 
Der-mid broke through this rule. He had the 
prince brought out and put to death. Then Saint 



The Danes Land in Ireland. 27 

Ru-ad-an went round the hill of Tar-a and cursed 
it, and from that day it is said no king has sat at 
Tar-a. 

But two years went by and Der-mid was slain 
in war. Huoh was next High-kin^, and the States 
met at Drum-ceit. In this king's reign it is said 
that Saint Bren-dan came to A-mer-i-ca and as far 
as O-hi-o. 

The next king of note was Hugh VI., in whose 
reign the Danes, a fierce folk, came from the North 
in ships. When they fought on land, men ran first 
who tried to act like wolves, and bears, and dogs, so 
as to make the Danes more fierce still. This they 
need not have done, we are sure. It was the 
schools and the homes of the monks who had done 
so much for the land that these fierce men tried 
most to tear down or burn, and take off all that they 
thought was good. Books they thought were no 
good, and so thev threw them in the lakes and 
streams, or burnt them. 

Soon the Danes got so strong in the land that 
they made their home in it, just as they had done a 
long while back in En-gland. They drove all the 
wise men who knew how to write books to the 
wild spots in the hills, or put them in jail. They 
would not let the I-rish wear their own clothes ; 
" slaves," they said, " must wear the clothes which 



28 History of Ireland. 

those who had the rule cast off." Nor would they 
let them have games in which they would bear 
arms. A Dane was put in each town to rule it, 
and in each house, though those in it were as poor 
as could be, a Dane had to be kept and fed, and 
each man had to pay a tax to keep his nose on 
his face. 

But at last, when the Danes had gone on in this 
way for more than a score of years, Mal-a-chy I., 
King of Meath, got their chief in his hands and 
put him to death. This was a sign for all the 
I-rish to rise up and kill the Danes, or drive them 
to their ships. 

For the next year the White Danes fought the 
Black Danes, and this was a good thing for the 
I-rish, for it gave them peace. Then the Danes 
fought the I-rish once more, and a long line of kings 
tried to drive them out, but to no use, though at 
times the I-rish would win in the war. But then 
the Danes would gain the fight, and so it went on 
for a long, long term of years. Large, round 
tow-ers of stone, which may still be seen, are 
thought to have been built in this time, to keep the 
wives and girls and boys of the I-rish safe from the 
fierce foe. 



CHAPTER V. 



BRIAN RORU. 

The next high- 
king of note was 
Mal-a-chy II. 
As soon as he 
got to the throne 
he led his troops 
to Dub-lin, and 
got it from the 
Danes. A great 
throng of I-rish 
were in the town, 
whom the Danes 
had kept there, 

BLAR-NEY CAS-TLE, CORK. and tllCSC WGTQ 

set free by Mal-a-chy, and we may feel sure that 
they were glad to get back to their homes. 

At the same time that Mal-a-chy was High-king, 
Bri-an Bor-u was king of Mun-ster. At first the 
two were not good friends, but at length they both 
made up their minds to join their men and try to 
drive out the Danes. This they did, and made the 
Danes of Dub-lin give them gold, and some of the 
Danes with it as a proof of their good will. The 




30 



History of Ireland. 



next year, in Wick-low, they fought with the Danes 
and slew the son of the Dan-ish king with four 
thou-sand of his men. 

But by this time Bri-an had made up his mind 
to be High-king. This thought was no doubt put 




LAKES OF KIL-LAR-NEY. 



in his head by the fact that the Danes said they 
would pay what both kings had said they must give 
to Bri-an, but not to Mal-a-chy. 

So Bri-an took the part of the Danes, and gave 
the son of the Dan-ish king, whom his men gave 
up to him, his child as wife. Then he told Mal-a- 



Brian Boru. 3 1 

chy that he would give him a year in which to make 
up his mind to fight for his throne or give it up. 
At the end of the year the two met at Tar-a, and 
Mal-a-chy, whose men had said they would not help 
him, had to bow to Bri-an as High-king. 

Though Bri-an did not act right in this, still he 
was a good and great king when he got the throne. 
He brought back peace to the land, built up the 
schools and church-es that had been torn down in 
the lonQf, fierce wars, and built forts and roads. 
He went through the land time on time, and made 
all feel that he had the might, and that they must 
heed his words and do as he told them. With their 
first name he made folks take the name of the clan 
of which they were, and then add on " Mac," for 
son, and "O," for grand-son. The laws were so 
well kept in his reign that it is said in a song that 
a fair dame went through the land with a white 
wand that bore a gold ring on the top, and found 
no one to touch it or her. He was to Ire-land, as 
far as he could be, what Al-fred was to En-gland. 
For twelve years he strove to do the folks good in 
all the ways that he could, and then the end of his 
life came, and in this way : 

Bri-an held court at Kin-cor-a, in Mun-ster. One 
day when the Prince of Lein-ster was there, the son 
of Bri-an went to play at chess with a friend. The 



32 History oj Ireland. 

Prince of Lein-ster, who stood by, told the son of 
Bri-an, Mor-ogh by name, to make a move which 
lost him the game. Mor-ogh was put out at this 
and said to the Prince that it was like the move he 
had told the Danes to make which had lost them a 
fight. This woke the rage of the Prince of Lein- 
ster, and he left the court. Bri-an sent some one 
to bee him to come back, but to no use. He would 
not go, but went on his way to rouse all the Danes 
and tell them that he would lend his help for one 
grand blow. So the Danes came from En-gland, 
from Den-mark, from Scot-land, and from the Isle 
of Man, and made a grand league to gain the land. 

All this time Bri-an tried his best to make all 
things fit to meet them with. Mal-a-chy, whose 
throne Bri-an had got, was great and good, for he 
took Bri-an's part, and gave him all the help he 
could. So Bri-an soon had twen-ty thou-sand men 
fit to fi^ht this great foe. 

Then met the Danes and I-rish at Clon-tarf, near 
Dub-lin, at dawn on Good Fri-day, 1014. Their 
fi^ht was most fierce. All the men w T ho led on 
both sides were slain. At last, at e-ven-tide, the 
Danes were beat. 

While the fight went on, Bri-an, who was now an 
old, old man, had to stay in the rear. He was in 
his tent, where he had gone to pray, when a Dane 



Brian Boru. 33 

of the name of Bro-dir ran in. At first this man 
thought Bri-an was a priest ; but when he found 
out that he was the king he struck him in the head 
with an ax, and Bri-an fell dead at his feet. It is 
said that he then held up the head of the old king 
and said : " Let it be told from man to man that 
Bro-dir slew Bri-an." Bri-an's son Mor-ogh was 
slain, too. 

Mal-a-chy now got back the throne. He was a 
good and wise king, and kept up the war with the 
Danes. Things were not well with Ire-land for the 
next score of years. There was no real king, 
though not a few strove to be so. Men did not do 
what was right to God or man. But things grew 
more like what they should be as time went on. 
The great church of Saint Pat-rick, at Dub-lin, 
Ho-ly Cross Ab-bey, and the Ca-the-drals of Cork, 
Lim-e-rick, and Wa-ter-ford, were built round this 
time. It got to be a law at this time that he who 
had done a great wrong should lose his sight. 




CHAPTER VI. 

END OF THE WAR WITH THE DANES. 

It now came to pass that the Nor- 
mans came to En-gland in their ships, 
from France, and got that isle for their 
own. This made the fourth time that 
En-gland had been won by foes who 
BBiBr came from far lands. 
In Ire-land at this time a king of the name of 
Murth-osfh rave to the church the town of Cash-el. 
This was a good deed, for the priests, as a rule, 
were good men, and did all they could for the land 
and the folks in it. 

Round this time the Danes made a last raid on 
the land. They were led this time by Mag-nus, 
King of Nor-way. But the I-rish rose up and 
drove them back to their ships, and they set sail for 
their own land and came back no more. And so 
an end came to the long war with that fierce, hard 
foe that had come down on all the lands near by, 
'and whom the I-rish at last drove out, but not till 
they had fought them for three hund-red years. 
Some gave in to the I-rish king, and these were 
made Christ-ians and dwelt in towns by the sea, 
and lived by trade, which was a good thing for the 



End of the War with the Danes. 



35 



land. But their priests and bish-ops said they must 
have the Arch-bish-op of Can-ter-bu-ry in En-gland 
for their head. And the I-rish let them have their 
own way in this. 

A great man who lived at this time was Saint 




QUEENS-TOWN. 



Mal-a-chy, Arch-bish-op of Ar-magh. He strove 
with all his strength to keep peace and build up the 
schools and the homes of the monks, which had 
been torn down by the Danes. But like all who 
strive to do right and make those round them do 
right, his life was hard at times. He was a great 



36 



History of Ireland. 



friend of the great Saint Ber-nard, and went to his 
home for monks at Clair-vaux, in France, to see 
the pope. When he got to Clair-vaux the pope 
had gone and the saint took sick and died. 

We now come for the first time in the tale of 
Ire-land to the name of Der-mod Mac Mur-rough, 
King of Lein-ster. If we judge him by all the woe 
and pain that his act brought to the I-rish, we must 
call him one of the worst men that have been in the 
world. His whole life, as far as we know, was bad. 
He took a nun from her home, and of those who 
tried to save her he slew two and put out the eyes 
of more. Then he toojc off the wife of the Prince of 
Meath, and so he went on, till all rose up and drove 
him out of the land. He set sail for En-gland, for 
he had his mind made up to have his own way, 
right or wrong, and he thought that the En-glish 
king would help him. 




Stone Wea-pons and Tools. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ENGLISH COME TO IRELAND. 

Up to this time the Sax-ons and the I-rish had 
been £ood friends. The Sax-ons had come to 
Ire-land to sell their goods, or to learn things, or to 
be safe if they had fear of ioes. But now this was 
at an end, and if Der-mod had not gone to En-gland, 
we may feel sure that the En-glish would have tried 
to gain Ire-land in time. 

When Der-mod got to En-gland he found that 
Hen-ry II., who was king there at that time, had 
gone to France. So he went there, too, and had a 
talk with Hen-ry and told him of what he said were 
his wrongs, and plead for aid to get back his part 
of the land. Hen-ry said yes, and gave him a 
let-ter in which he gave leave to all the men in the 
land to go with Der-mod. But the En-glish did 
not seem to care to go with him, and at last he 
spoke to Rich-ard de Clare, Earl of Pem-broke, 
who went by the name of Strong-Bow, so great was 
his skill with the bow. Der-mod told him that he 
would let him have the throne of Lein-ster at his 
death, and give him his fair young child, E-va, as 
wife. To two Welsh knights he said he would 
give the town of Wex-ford and a great deal of land. 



3 8 History of Ireland. 

So they went, and as soon as they got to Ire-land 




I VAL-LEY OF GLEN-DA-LOUGH. 2 — IN GLEN-DA-LOUGH. 

they laid siege to Wex-ford and got that town. 




MAR-RIAGE OF E-VA AND STRONG-BOW. 



40 Histo7"y of Ireland. 

Rod-er-ick was High-king at this time, and at first 
he thought that the En-glish but meant to get Der- 
mod's throne for him ; but when he saw that they 
had come to get the whole realm, he made all the 
men in Ire-land meet at Tar-a, and from thence he 
led them up to Dub-lin. Der-mod then went back 
to Ferns, but Rod-er-ick went there, too. Then 
Der-mod and Rod-er-ick had a talk, and Der-mod 
gave his word to bring no more foes to the isle. 
But he did not mean this, and said it just to gain 
time. 

In a few days more men came from En-gland, 
and then Der-mod made up his mind that he would 
try to take Dub-lin. Soon Strong-Bow came, and 
the next day they took Wa-ter-ford and put to death 
a great throng of those who dwelt in that town. 
Strong-Bow and E-va were now wed in the midst 
of war and strife, and then the foe went on to Dub- 
lin. They laid siege to it, and though the men 
there fought hard, in the end they had to give up 
the town, and the En-glish slew a great throng of 
them. The priests and some more good men in 
Ire-land thought this new woe which had come on 
the land had been sent by God for the sin of 
sla-ver-y. The I-rish had bought Sax-on slaves for 

a long time, and a great throng of these were at 

• • • 

this time in the isle. So when the priests told the 



The English Come to Ireland. 41 

folks how great their sin had been in this, and that 
no doubt they were now to feel God's wrath for it, 
they rose up and set these slaves free ; and they, we 
dare say, went back with joy to their own land. 

Der-mod did not live to reap much good from 
what he had done ; for he died in the course of the 
next year, and then all the I-rish-men that had been 
on his side in the war came to fight with the men 
of their own land. 

Saint Law-rence O'Toole was at this time Arch- 
bish-op of Dub-lin This great man thought that 
now w r ould be a good time in which to drive the foe 
out. So the I-rish got help from the Isle of Man, 
and Strong-bow was shut up with his men in Dub- 
lin, both by land and sea. Their food gave out 
and the I-rish told them that they must give up all 
claim on Ire-land, and give their word to quit it on 
a day that the I-rish would name, or they would get 
no food. But the foe made up their minds to try 
one more way ere they gave in. So when the I-rish 
had not the least thought of such a thing, they cut 
their way right through their ranks and made them 
flee to all sides. 

Strong-Bow took part of his troops to Wex-ford 
and left part in Dublin, with much food that they 
had got in the I-rish camp. But soon Strong-Bow 
had to leave his troops at Wex-ford and go back 



42 



History of Ireland. 



to En-gland, for he heard that King Hen-ry was 
put out with him, and so had to go to plead his 
own cause. 

He told Hen-ry he might have "all the lands he 
had won in Ire-land," which was most kind, we must 
say, when we think that he did not own in truth 
one inch in that isle as yet. Then Hen-ry gave 
him back his En-glish lands which he had tak-en 
from him, and got to be great friends with him 
once more. 




STRONG-BOW S TOMB. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

KING HENRY II. COMES TO IRELAND. 

The next thing of note was that Hen-ry came to 

the scene of the war. He said that he had come 

to make things all right and stop war, and the I-rish 

thought that it was so. Some chiefs gave up to him, 

the towns of Cork, Wex-ford, and Wa-ter-ford let him 

in, and he gave Dub-lin to the folks for whom there 

was no room in the town of Bris-tol, in En-gland. 

Then he made all the bish-ops and priests meet him 

at Wa-ter-ford, and there read them what is known 

as the Bull of A-dri-an — that is, leave from the 

pope to go and make Ire-land his. Some say 

that the pope gave him no such thing, that Hen-ry, 

who was a man of much craft, made it up so that 

the I-rish, who thought a great deal of the pope, 

nwht be led by it to o-ive in to him. If it be true, 

• • iii"i 

if A-dri-an did give him leave in truth, he did so 

for the best, for all say that he was a good man. 

At the time that Der-mod fled to En-gland strife 

had grown S o fierce that the folks were kept back. 

i 11*/* 

Each tribe or clan fought the next, and no chiel 

was found so strong as to put down strife once for 

all and bring the land 'neath the sway of one king, 

as En-gland had been brought. The folks could 



44 



History of Ireland. 



not turn their minds in peace to learn things that 
help to make a land great and rich. So if A-dri-an 
sent Hen-ry, he did so for the good of the folks in 
Ire-land, in the hope that he would be so strong as 
to rule and give a peace there that would last. 

But, as we know, Hen-ry was not a good man. 




MEET-ING OF THE WA-TERS AT THE OLD WIER BRIDGE. 

It was not the good of the I-rish that made him 
cross the sea to their shores. Since the time of 
the date of the Bull, he had put men up to the bad 
deed of the death of Thom-as a Beck-et. So now 
he heard that the pope had sent wise men from his 
court to learn just what part had been the king's in 



King John Comes to Ireland. 45 

this vile deed. He heard, too, that his wife, Queen 
El-e-a-nor, and his sons, had made plots, so he had 
to eo back to England. He made Strono-Bow 
Vice-roy of Ire-land, and set sail at once. 

Still the I-rish did not give in. They kept up 
. the war, and at times won. Af-ter a while Strong- 
Bow died. The I-rish might now have got a 
chance to throw off the yoke, but their chiefs did 
not keep to the same plans. Soon, John, the son of 
Hen-ry, came to Ire-land and staid eight months. 
He took the name of Lord of Ire-land, and put tax 
on tax on the I-rish. 

It was round this time that Rod-er-ick, the High- 
king, was made to give up his throne by his two 
sons. He went to the house of the monks at Cong, 
and there died. Then there was no High-king, and 
the kings in all the parts of the land kept up the 
war, but not to much use. They were swept off the 
scene one by one. For long years the tale of the 
isle is but that of a few great clans who fought to 
get spoil and have might in the land more than to 
drive out the foe. 

Hen-ry II. now died, and Rich-ard I., whom 
men call Li-on-heart, got the throne. There was 
now strife in the ranks of the En-glish, and it would 
have been a fine time for the I-rish to free their 
land for orood and all, but it was the sad fate of this 



46 History of Ireland. 

fine race to have no great man in their midst at this 
time whose sole thought would be to save his own 
dear land. Don-aid O'Bri-en, the last king of Lim- 
er-ick, and Hugh de La-cy won most fame at this 
time. 



CHAPTER IX. 

KING JOHN COMES TO IRELAND. 

When King John got the En-glish throne, he 
made a man of the name of Fitz-Hen-ry, Vice-roy 
of Ire-land. The O'Con-nors fought in Ker-ry. 
One of them sought the help of Hugh O'Neill, of 
Ul-ster, who had fought the English with all his 
might. But soon O'Neill was made to go out of 
Ul-ster, and O'Lough-lin got the rule there ; but 
when a few years had gone by, O'Neill got back 
his land. The feuds of the great I-rish clans had 
their match in the feuds of the En-glish in Ire-land. 

Hugh de La-cy was now made Earl of Ul-ster. 
En-gland at this time was put 'neath the ban of the 
pope for the bad acts of John, its king. When the 
See of Can-ter-bu-ry had need of an Arch-bish-op, 
he put a man of his own choice, and so, we dare 
say, not a good man, to fill it. But the pope would 



King Jo Jui Comes to Ireland. 47 

not let the man of John's choice have the See, and 
chose in his stead the great Ste-phen Lang-ton — he 
who gave so much, if not the most, aid when they 
wrung the Mag-na Char-ta, or Great Char-ter, which 
gave men rights that no king could take from them, 
from King John, and which the folks of En-gland 
in our own day look on still as the ground of all their 
good laws. So those who say that priests like to 
keep down the folks in all lands should think of Ste- 
phen Lang-ton when he stood up at Run-ny-mede 
with the chief men of the land and fought for, and 
got what was right from that bad, hard king. 

While the ban of the pope hung like a cloud on 
his land, John set sail for Ire-land. The folks 
there, you may be sure, gave no sign of joy when 
he set foot on their shores. It was now a year 
since a throng of folks from Bris-tol, in En-gland, 
who had learned that a plague in Dub-lin had slain 
huge crowds there, thought that now there would 
be room for them to live there, and set sail at once. 
They got to Dub-lin, and had been there but a few 
days, when, as they were in great sport and glee 
at a place of the name of Cul-len's Wood, the 
O' Byrnes and O'Tooles came down on them from 
the Wick-low Mount-ains and slew three hund-red 
of them. For a long time this day bore the name 
of Black Mon-day. 



48 History of Ireland. 

De La-cy fled when John came. John took 
Car-rick-fer-gus Cas-tle from his men and put his 
own troops there. Some of the I-rish kings bent 
the knee to John ; of these were Hugh O'Neill and 
Cath-al Crov-derg. The Nor-man lords, too, had 
to swear to be true to him. The chiefs who dwelt 
in the north and west of the isle kept still, and 
John went home at the end of six-ty days. 

At the close of this reign two great I-rish chiefs, 
O'Neill and O'Don-nell, joined their men and 
fought the foe once more. 

His son, Hen-ry III., got the throne at the death 
of John. A form of the Mag-na Char-ta, with a 
great deal of the good cut out of it, was now put in 
force in Ire-land. The I-rish got the En-glish to 
say just what the Vice-roy should or should not do. 
He was bound to say what he did with the aid, and 
all the gold that was got from the I-rish, and had to 
keep up all the forts and lands of the king as they 
should be, by means of that gold. 

And now a fierce feud rose as to who should 
have the prov-ince of Con-naught. For ten years 
the fight went on. De Bur-go put in his claim to 
it as the king's gift to him ; Cath-al said it was his 
by right of his sire, Crov-derg ; Tur-lough said it 
was his by right of w r ar, if he could get it. This 
last seems to have been most the choice of the folks, 



King John Comes to Ireland. 



49 



and so O'Neill made him chief. So fierce was this 
feud that it is said in the books of that time that 
there was no man left in the fields to reap the grain. 




CAR-RICK-FER-GUS CAS-TLE. 



The En-glish at this time made a plot to take 
the life of Rich-ard, Earl of Pem-broke, the grand- 
son of Strong-bow. By the most mean and vile 
acts they got him in a spot where they could kill 



50 



History of Ireland. 



him, and did so. Hen-rv the Third was sad when 
he heard of Rich-ard's death. 

But the times were not all bad. There were 
good folks still in the world. When one tries to 
tell of the past he must dwell more on feats of arms, 
of course ; but we must not think from this that 
there was naught else in the world. 

Good and kind monks and nuns were in the land 
all this time, and did their best to keep up the arts 
of peace mid the din of war. They wrote books, 
they fed the poor, they sowed the fields and took in 
the grain when it was ripe ; the foot-sore found a 
place to rest 'neath their roof, and, friend or foe, a 
hand to dress their wounds, or, if need were, help 
to meet their God. 




SIG-NA-TURE. 



CHAPTER X. 

BRUCE TRIES TO FREE IRELAND. 

At length the I-rish chiefs made O'Neill king of 
all Ire-land, and he died in a war for this name with 
the lord chief-jus-tice. Art, the lord of Meath, 
fought the En-glish too at this time. 

Hen-ry III. now died, and Ed-ward I. came to 
the En-glish throne. At this time it is said the 
I-rish harp came in use in It-a-ly. 

Rich-ard de Burgh, the " Red Earl" of Ul-ster, 
now got to be the great lord in Ire-land. His home 
in Trim was just like a court, and his acts were 
those of a king. He put down the O'Con-nors in 
Con-naught, and O'Neill and O'Don-nell in Ul-ster. 
But when he went to Meath, to take the lands of 
the Fitz-ger-alds, they took him and put him in jail. 
These Fitz-ger-alds were a great clan. One of them 
was made Earl of Kil-dare, and one Earl of Des- 
mond. • Both these men and those of their blood 
bore the name of the Ger-ald-ines all through their 
lines. 

But the " Red Earl" got free by means of an act 
of the first Par-li-a-ment held in Ire-land. This was 
held by the En-glish at Kil-ken-ny. 

It was in this same reign that some I-rish chiefs 



52 History of Ireland. 

were slain at a feast to which Prince Ber-ming-ham, 
an En-glish lord, bade them. So a great throng of 
the I-rish went to help Bruce in his war with 
Ed-ward I. in Scot-land. The En-glish lords in 
Ire-land went, of course, to help Ed-ward. Don- 
ald O'Neill, king of Ul-ster, sent Bruce a band of 
bow-men. At the fight of Ban-nock-burn the 
En-glish lost the field, and a great En-glish po-et 
wrote thus of it : 

To Al-bi-on's Scots we ne'er would yield, 
The I-rish bow-men won the field. 

When the I-rish saw how well the Scots had 
done, they thought they would join their men and 
try all at once to do as well. So they sent for 
Ed-ward Bruce to come and take the head of their 
men to lead them to the fight, and try to make their 
land free. So Bruce came, and as soon as he got 
to the shores of Ire-land, met O'Neill and all the 
I-rish chiefs that had said they would join. They 
soon took the towns of Dun-dalk and Ar-dee, the 
" Red Earl" was beat at Cas-tle Con-nor, and all 
Ul-ster, save Car-rick-fer-gus, was Bruce's. So all 
the chiefs met at Dun-dalk and Bruce was made 
king of all Ire-land, and the crown put on his head 
mid great joy and pomp. 

This step gave the En-glish a real fright, and 
their king sought the pope's aid to get the I-rish to 




ROB ERT BRUCE. 



54 History of Ireland. 

have him for their lord. Don-aid O'Neill then 
wrote to the pope, too ; he set forth the ills which 
the I-rish had borne since the land had been made 
the En-glish king's ; how the En-glish drove them 
from their homes and lands to the wild spots in the 
hills, where they had to herd like wild beasts in 
woods and caves, from which, if they could, their 
foes would chase them, for they laid claim to each 
place in turn which the I-rish kept. O'Neill then 
told the pope that they would try to get their land 
back, and if Bruce could free it he should have it. 

So the I-rish kept up the fight, strong in their 
love for their land. They sent one of the Scotch 
earls who had come with Bruce for King Rob-ert 
Bruce of Scot-land, who came and took his place 
with his broth-er at Car-rick-fer-gus, to which they 
laid siege. So hard up were the En-glish for food 
that they ate hides. Then they went on to Dub-lin. 
The foe had great fear, for they were now more 
strong and fierce than they had been since first the 
En-glish came. The De La-cys came 'neath the 
flag of Bruce. The En-glish put De Bur-go in jail, 
for his child was the wife of the Scotch king, and 
they thought he might play his own side false and 
let the foe in, so they put him where he could do 
them no harm. 

They tore down all that they had need of to 



Bruce Tries to Free Ireland. 



55 



make the town strong, and so strong did they make 
it that Bruce saw it would be of no use to try to 
take it then, so he fell back with his men to a place 
which bore the name of the "Sal-mon Leap." 




By this time the 
Earl of Kil-dare 
had got troops 
and led them to 
fight the Scotch 
and I-rish troops, 
who had no food. 
King Rob-ert, 



THE SAL-MON LEAP. 



56 History of Ireland. 

too, went back to his own land ; but the Bruce who 
staid, fought on. Good crops took from them the 
fear of want of food ; and it was said that two car- 
di-nals were on their way from Rome to bring back 
peace to the land. 

One last grand fight took place near Dun-dalk. 
The De La-cy and some more En-glish lords 
fought 'neath the flag of Bruce, why, it is hard 
to say. Ed-ward Bruce fell, slain by a knight who 
was at once slain in his turn. The head of the 
Scotch chief was put in salt in a chest, and put 
'neath the eyes of King Ed-ward II. at a feast. He 
did not seem to mind this sight in the least, but the 
Scotch lords who were at the board, ran out of the 
room. 

As for the En-glish lords, they were put in jail, 
and got three bits of the worst bread and three 
draughts of foul drink once in a while till they died. 
And so came to an end Bruce's brave plan to free 
Ire-land. 



CHAPTER XL 

ART M'MURROUGH, KING OF LEINSTER. 

Though Bruce had not freed them, the I-rish 
kept on in their fight with the foe. Ed-ward III. 
was now on the throne. The En-glish lords tried 
to get free from his rule ; they had learned by this 
time to speak the I-rish tongue, and were as I-rish 
as they had once been En-glish. So Ed-ward took 
from them all the land which they had got from 
him or from his sires. The next year he said that 
no man who had been born or had wed in Ire-land, 
or held land there, should have aught to do with 
the State. 

But the lords met at once at Kil-ken-ny, and told 
him just how wrong they thought this was, and as 
Ed-ward was on the eve of a war with France, he 
had to yield for a time. 

Ed-ward took an I-rish force with him to Cre-cy, 
in France, and they won a great name for the way 
they fought there, and at Cal-ais, too. 

Li-o-nel, the son of Ed-ward, was now sent to 
Ire-land with a large force. He went to Coun-ty 
Clare to root out the I-rish, but got quite a shock 
when his force was beat with a great loss. It is 
thought that he took the name of the Duke of Clar- 



58 History of Ireland. 

ence, from the fact that his life was won for him 
while there by the speed of his horse. 

Li-o-nel now made new and hard laws. One of 
these said that to wed an I-rish wife or hus-band 
should be held as the worst wrong in the list of 
crimes ; and that to buy or sell from the I-rish should 
be held to be as bad. This new law said, too, that 
all the old I-rish laws were to be as if they had not 
been made, and that the En-glish must go back to 
their own tongue and their old ways in all things. 
The I-rish were told that they must not put their 
herds to feed on En-glish lands, and the En-glish 
were told that they must not let I-nsh bards or 
news-men in their homes. 

A great chief now rose in the land who bore the 
name of Art McMur- rough. For long years he 
fought, and fought so well that the En-^lish in the 
" Pale," for such was the name of that part of the 
land where the En-glish dwelt, had to pay the chief 
who led their troops a great sum to go on with the 
war. Art made the En-glish pay him a tax, to 
which they gave the name of black-mail. He was 
king of Lein-ster, and Rod-er-ick was the king of 
Con-naught. Rich-ard II. now sat on the throne 
of En-gland, and so great was his wish to get rid of 
Art, that he led a great force to Ire-land. When 
he got there he told Art that if he would give up 



Art McMurroughy King of Leinster. 59 

to him all the land he had in Lein-ster, he would 
give him a right to all the lands that he could wrest 
from the I-rish chiefs. But Art would not hear to 
this. He would keep his own and steal no man's 
land from him. So then Rich-ard went out to fight 
this proud chief; but Art fled as Rich-ard came, 
and so the En-glish king soon gave up the war 
and fell back to Dub-lin. Then Rich-ard sent 
for Art to have a talk with him. So Art came, 
and he and the king got to be friends, and Rich- 
ard made Art a knight, though Art said he 
had been made one when a child, and did not care 
in the least to have the En-glish king do it once 
more. 

Then Rich-ard made his kins-man, Rog-er Mor- 
ti-mer, Earl of March, Vice-roy, and set sail with 
his fleet. But he was not well gone when the I-rish 
chiefs rose once more and in a few years Rich-ard 
had to come back, for Art put the Earl of March 
and all his force to death at Ken-lis. The rage 
of the En-glish king was great, and he brought 
a great band of men with which to seize Art, who 
now bore the name of King and Lord of Great 
Ire-land. 

He had not much fear of Rich-ard, and when 

that kinor sought to make terms with him, he sent 

. . 1 . -1 

back word that he would not eive in to him nor do 



60 History of Ireland. 

what he said ; that he was the real king of the isle, 
and would keep up the war till death 

When Rich-ard heard these proud words he at 
once took the field ; but as he went on Art went 
back and laid waste the land, so that the foe could 
find no food for his men or beasts. In his rage 
Rich-ard said he would give a large sum in pure 
gold for Art, dead or in life. But it was in vain 
that he held out this bribe ; he had to go back to 
Dub-lin as he left it, and from thence had to set sail 
at once for his own land to fight the Duke of Lan- 
caster, who had laid claim to the throne. For a 
long term of years Art kept up the war with his 
foes, and then this brave and great chief died. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ENGLISH LAWS FOR IRELAND THE DUKE OF YORK. 

When Art died he left no one in the land at all 
like him, for his son Don-ough, who was as brave 
though not so great or wise as his sire, was caught 
by the foe and put in the Tow-er of Lon-don, which 
was a great jail. At this time the En-glish As-sem- 
bly of the Pale made a law that no man should go 
from the isle if he did not first oret leave to do so. 



English Laws for Ireland — The Duke of York. 6 1 

They soon made a law which was a fit match for 
this, for it said that no man should take things to 
be sold at fair or mart in the parts of the isle which 
did not form the " Pale." Men had to shave their 
top lips, or share the fate of I-rish foes, was what 
one more of these laws said, too. So we need not 
go far to see why the I-rish race kept up their hate 
for this hard foe who tried to do naught to gain 
their love. 

When Hen-ry VI. got to the En-glish throne 
while still but a babe, Ed-ward Mor-ti-mer, Earl of 
March, got the rule of Ire-land, but died of plague 
the next year, and Lord Fur-ni-val took his place. 
The son of Art McMur-rough was now let out of 
jail and came back to his own land. At this time 
the En-glish would make the I-rish give them food, 
and coin, and a place to lodge in their homes, and 
pay them naught for all this. The feud 'twixt the 
Earl of Or-mond and the Tal-bots in Ire-land was 
near as dire to that land as the Wars of the Ro-ses 
in En-gland. 

At length the Duke of York was sent to rule 
Ire-land. His wife came with him. This fair 
dame bore the name of the " Rose of Ra-by." Two 
of her sons sat on the En-glish throne — Ed-ward 
IV. and Rich-ard III. The Duke of York tried 
to please the I-rish by his acts, and they, in turn, 



62 History of Ireland. 

tried to please him. Each day they got to like 
him more. The great chiefs sent him gifts, and 
one chief sent two steeds for the use of the Rose 
of Ra-by. So we see that here, as else-where, 
love can do much more than fear, and that to be 
kind is to use true might. But soon the Duke 
of York's friends made him go back to En-gland. 
The great War of the Ro-ses did naught for Ire- 
land, though she clung to the White Rose, no 
doubt in the hope that it the Duke of York won he 
would be more just than En-glish kings in the past 
had been. When he was at last slain some of the 
great chiefs from Meath and Ul-ster fell with him. 
The Ger-ald-ines fought on his side, but the But-lers 
wore the Red Rose. The chiefs who were at 
home did their best to beat the foe in their land, 
for they thought it was a good time to do so, and at 
last left the En-glish but a small space in the isle. 

When Ed-ward IV. got to be king in En-gland 
a law was made which said that each I-rish-man 
who dwelt in the "Pale" must take with his own 
name the name of a town, as Ches-ter, or Sut-ton, 
or of a hue, as white, black, or brown, or some 
name from the list which they gave, or lose his 
goods each year. There were more laws put in 
force at this time which made it a hard thing for the 
I-rish to dwell where the En-glish were, for if an 



English Laws for Ireland — The Duke of York. 63 

En-glish-man was not friends with an I-rish-man he 
could soon show cause why he had a right to 
put him to death, and do it. There was a law, too, 
which said that if an En-glish-man was hurt by an 
I-rish-man out-side the "Pale," he need spare none 
of his sept or clan, but make all pay for the act 
of their chief. All I-rish-men who lived by trade 
had to bring bows and darts with the goods that they 
brought from England to the isle. One of these 
laws, and but one, was good for the I-rish, that 
which said that the En-glish who dwelt in the 
"Pale" should have naught to do with them. 

Round this time Hugh Roe O'Don-nell brought 
hand-guns to Ire-land, and soon great guns, or 
can-non came in use. 

An Act was now put forth by the I-rish Par-li-a- 
ment which said that for the time to come none 

of its Bills or Acts should be law till thev had 

j 

been seen by the king and his couii-cil in En-gland 
and sent back to it with the great seal of the realm. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE EARLS OF KILDARE. 




When Hen-ry 
VII. took for his 
badge the great 
half white, half 
red rose, and so 
put an end to the 
long War of the 
Ro-ses, he made 
the Duke of Bed- 
ford Lord of Ire- 
land, and kept 
Ger-ald, Earl of 
Kil-dare, as Lord 
Dep-u-ty, which 
he had been in the 
rei<m of Rich-ard 

III. 

In this reign a young man by the name of Lam- 
bert Sim-nel laid claim to the throne of En-gland 
as the son of the Duke of Clar-ence, who had been 
put to death in the Tow-er. As the En-glish rule 
was most weak in Ire-land, he made his way there 



The Earls of Kildare. 65 

and got some of the great lords of the " Pale" to 
take up his cause and fight for him-. First of these 
was the Earl of Kil-dare. 

So, on Whit-sun-day, the crown was put on 
Lam-bert's head in the Ca-the-dral of the Ho-ly 
Trin-i-ty in Dub-lin, and he got the name of Ed- 
ward VI. Coins were struck and laws made in 
his name. 

In a short time his friends took him to En-gland, 
where he fought with King Hen-ry's troops at 
Stoke, and lost the day. The king got hold of him, 
and in place of a crown gave him hawks to train. 
The Earl of Kil-dare was not made to feel the 
wrath of King Hen-ry for his share in the pomp of 
the young mock king. Fire-arms came in use in all 
parts of the isle at this time. 

Hen-ry VII. seems to have felt some fear lest 
the lords of the "Pale" might not prove true to 
him in time to come, for he sent Sir Rich-ard Edge- 
combe to get them to take an oath to be true to 
him. This they did, but in a short time, when 
Per-kin War-beck laid claim to the throne as Duke 
of York, they paid no heed to their oath, but took 
up arms in his cause. King Hen-ry sent one of 
his lords with a band of men to put down this new 
scheme 'gainst his throne, and those who were for 
War-beck fled to the north. As soon as the king's 






66 History of Ireland. 

men went on their track, one of the near kin of the 
Earl of Kil-dare rose in arms in the south and took 
Car-low Cas-tle. The king's men had to come back 
from the north, and when peace had been made 
the Earl of Kil-dare was sent to En-gland to tell 
the king the cause of his acts for the past few 
years. But Kil-dare plead his cause so well that the 
kine £ave him one of his near kin to wife, and 
when his foes said that all Ire-land could not rule 
him, said: "Then in good faith shall he rule all 
Ire-land." 

Then Prince Hen-ry, who in time came to the 
throne as King Hen-ry VIII., was made Vice-roy 
of Ire-land, and the Earl of Kil-dare his Dep-u-ty. 
He held this place till his death, which took place 
in the reign of Hen-ry VIII., and then his son, 
Ger-ald, got it. He was the ninth and last Cath-o- 
lio Earl of Kil-dare. 

At this time the En-glish held but a small part 
of the land, and in this part the bulk of the folks 
were I-rish in their ways, their speech, and by birth. 

The Ger-ald-ines of Mun-ster tried hard to get 
some more land from the I-rish chiefs, but Mac- 
Car-thy and O'Bri-en made one great force of their 
men and beat them in a hard fight. 

Then the Earl of Des-mond, the chief of the 
Ger-ald-ines, tried to get the French king to send 



68 History of Ireland. 

men to Ire-land to drive out the En-glish lords 
from the " Pale." This was found out by King 
Hen-ry, who sent the Earl of Kil-dare 'gainst him. 
But Kil-dare did not care much to do the work the 
king had put him to do, so he went off to Ul-ster 
to bring back peace there, he said. 

But this did not please King Hen-ry. He sent 
for Kil-dare to come to Lon-don. Kil-dare put the 
rule in the hands of his son, Lord Thom-as, and 
set off. Hen-ry kept him for four years, and took 
him in his train when he went to the Field of the 
Cloth of Gold. 

At last he got back to his own land, but in the 
next year Hen-ry sent for him once more. He 
went, but as soon as he got to Lon-don, he was 
thrust in the Tow-er. 

Then the foes of his house sent word that his 
head had been cut off, so as to rouse Silk-en 
Thom-as, for such was the name his son went by, 
to do some act that would make him feel the king's 
wrath. And Silk-en Thom-as did do just what 
they had thought he would do. When he heard 
the dire but false news of his sire's death, he went 
at once to the great hall where the coun-cil sat, 
flung down his sword of state, and said he would 
keep faith no more with King Hen-ry. Then he 
took up arms 'gainst him. For a while he and his 



Protestant Rule. 69 

band of men held out, but at last when he had lost 
most of his men, he gave in to Lord Gray, whom 
the king had sent to take him. Lord Gray had 
said that naught should be done to him, but when 
he got him he broke his word and sent him to En- 
gland, where he was hung with five of his near kin 
who had had no part in the act of Kil-dare. At 
this time a law was put in force which said that 
the young En-glish girls must not wed I-rish-men. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PROTESTANT RULE. 

But a new woe was now to be felt by Ire-land. 
Hen-ry the Eighth had sent from him his true, 
good wife, and put An-ne Bo-leyn in her place. He 
said that he, and not the pope, was the head of the 
Church in En-gland. But the best men in his 
realm would not take the oath to hold him as head 
of the Church, and for this the bad king had their 
heads cut off. 

In En-gland the priests and monks had more 
wealth and lands than had those in Ireland. Those 
in the ''Pale" may have had some of the goods 
of this world, but in the rest of the land the priests 



yo History of Ireland. 

and monks were poor and had naught to tempt 
them to be false to the truth. So they were brave 
and strong in their day, and kept the faith, the old 
faith, for Ire-land, while En-gland went with her 
king and got her new name of Prot-est-ant. 

Hen-ry made George Browne, who had once 
been a priest, the first Prot-est-ant Arch-bish-op of 
Dub-lin. This man did his best to put the new 
faith in place of the old, but though by law it was 
made the faith of the land, in truth but three priests 
and a few of the folks took it for their own. The 
rest, in spite of Browne or the law, held to the 
old. Then a scheme was made up to take off 
their cows and spoil their corn for use while it was 
yet green. The En-glish took the homes of the 
monks and nuns, too, and gave them to those who 
would take the new faith, or to the king. 

The Cath-o-lics took up arms for their rights, but 
they lost in the fight, and then they sent to James 
the Fifth, of Scot-land, to ask for aid. This king 
sent a large force, which, sad to tell, did not reach 
Ire-land. 

Hen-ry the Eighth now had a law made which 
gave him the name of " King of En-gland and Ire- 
land." O'Neill of Ul-ster and a few more of the 
I-rish chiefs who said that they would call the king 
by his new name, were made earls. At this time 



Protestant Rule. 7 1 

the coun-ty of Meath was made in two parts, which 
got the name of East Meath and West Meath. 
Great dearth was felt there, and six white pence 
was the price of a cake of bread. 

When King Hen-ry the Eighth died, his son, 
Ed-ward the Sixth, came to the throne. St. Leg-er, 
who had been Lord Dep-u-ty in the time of the late 
king, still kept the rule, but Bel-ling-ham was sent 
from En-gland with a large force to keep the peace. 
He was a man of strong will. Once, when the 
Earl of Des-mond said he would not go up to 
Dub-lin, but would keep Christ-mas in his own 
home, Bel-ling-ham set out at once with a small 
band of men on horse-back and brought him up to 
Dub-lin. 

The O'Con-nors and the O'Mores were put out 
of their homes and their lands by an En-glish-man 
of the name of Bry-an. This part of the land now 
got the name of King's coun-ty and Queen's coun-ty. 
A law was made which said that the sole tongue 
used in the house of God should be En-glish, But 
this was in truth a hard law, as I think you will 
grant when you hear that the I-rish did not know 
aught of the En-glish tongue. 

But soon a gleam of hope sprang up in the hearts 
of the poor I-rish. Ed-ward the Sixth died, and 
Ma-ry Tu-dor came to the throne. She was a 



J 2 History of Ireland. 

Cath-o-lic, and so all who had tried to force the 
new creed on folks who felt naught for it but hate 
were put down. 

Arch-bish-op Don-dall was made Arch-bish-op 
of Ar-magh. All was as it had been ere the new 
creed was thought of, but the folks did not get 
aught else done for them. Their wrongs were left 
the same as they had been. 

The late Earl of Kil-dare's sons, Ger-ald and 
Ed-ward, came back from France in this reign. 
Great joy was felt at this, for fears had been felt 
that none of the Kil-dares would e'er set foot in 
Ire-land. 

The great man 'mong the I-rish chiefs at this 
time was "John the Proud," or Shane O'Neill, who 
took the name of King of Ul-ster. He put down 
his sire, who had tak-en the name of Earl of 
Ty-rone from Hen-ry the Eighth. 

But five years from the time Queen Ma-ry came 
to the throne she died, and E-liz-a-beth got to be 
queen. She went in the way of her sire. Mass 
was put a stop to, the queen made head of the 
Church, and all priests who would not hold her 
to be so, were bade to leave the land. The Earl of 
Sus-sex was sent to Ire-land as Lord Dep-u-ty, and 
told to make things there the same as they were in 
En-gland. 




HEN-RY THE EIGHTH. 



CHAPTER XV. 



SHANE O NEILL. 



The Earl of Sus-sex tried his best to do as he 
had been told to do, but in vain. The I-rish could 
not and would not be made Prot-est-ant. 

Sus-sex made the Prov-ince of Con-naught out 
of six coun-ties. While he did this Shane O'Neill 
brought the whole of Ul-ster 'neath his rule. 
When his foes said that he made plots, he went 
to Lon-don, saw the queen, and plead his cause 
so well that she was most kind to him, and ere 
he left the court gave him rich gifts. But he 
kept up the war all the same when he got back 
to his own land, and so strong a foe did Sus-sex 
find him that he sent tales of him to the queen. 
Then the queen would send back word for her 
troops to be of good heart, for when they won in 
the fight there would be all the more lands for 
them. But at last E-liz-a-beth said to O'Neill that 
if he would cease the war she would make him 
Earl of Ty-rone. "Tell your queen," said O'Neill 
to the man who brought him this news, " that if 
she is Queen of En-gland, I am O'Neill, King of 
Ul-ster. I make no peace with her till she asks 
me to do so. I crave not the name of Earl ; my 



Shane O Neill. 75 

race and birth raise me too high for me to care tor 
such a thing ; my sires have been Kings of Ul-ster, 
I have got that land by the sword, and by the sword 
I will keep it." 

When this way did not make O'Neill give in, 
they got a great band of his men from him by 
bribes. At last Sir Wil-liam Piers got some 
Scotch troops to come to Ire-land and get in a fight 
with O'Neill and kill him. And so, at a feast, 
they did so, and went at him with their swords 
drawn and slew him. And so died Shane O'Neill. 

The Earl of Sus-sex was sent word by the queen 
to go back to En-gland, and Sir Hen-ry Sid-ney 
was made Vice-roy. The Earl of Des-mond, who 
kept to the true old faith, still kept up his feud with 
the Earl of Or-mond, who held the new creed. In 
a fight the Earl of Des-mond was hurt, and fell in 
the hands of the men of Or-mond. The name of 
the race of Or-mond was But-ler. So when the 
men who bore Des-mond from the field said, with 
the wish to taunt him, " Where is now the proud 
Earl of Des-mond?" Des-mond said, with both 
pride and wit, " Where he should be, on the necks 
of the But-lers." 

In the " Pale" things were not so bad in E-liz-a- 
beth's reign as they had been for some time past, 
but in the rest of the land they were as bad as they 



j6 Histoi-y of Ireland. 

well could be. A vile class of men who made great 
show of their love for En-gland came to Ire-land in 
throngs and were free to rob as much as they had 
a wish to. Bish-ops, priests and monks were put 
on the rack and put to death when they could not 
be made to say that the queen was head of the 
Church. Throngs on throngs of the poor folks were 
hung, but the rest could not be made to take the 
new creed for their own. The Earl of Des-mond 
kept rule in the south of Mun-ster. When the 
Bish-op of Kil-dare was made to leave his See, 
Des-mond eave him a home. When a short time 
had gone by, Sir Hen-ry Sid-ney came down on 
Kil-mal-lock, the home of Des-mond, and took him 
off by force to Dub-lin and from thence sent him to 
the Tow-er of Lon-don. His kin and clans-men 
rose in arms at this act, led by Fitz-mau-rice. They 
fought well, but in a short time Des-mond got out 
of the Tow-er, and then they laid down their arms 
and there was peace for four years. 




TOW-ER OF LON-DON. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE GERALDINE LEAGUE. 

When four years were past the Ger-ald-ines went 
on with the war. A base act done at this time 
made things much worse. A man of the name 
of Cros-by, Pres-i-dent of Lein-ster, bade in the 
queen's name all the great I-rish chiefs and their 
kin to come to a place in King's coun-ty to have 
a talk with the En-glish. But as soon as the I-rish 
got to the spot their fierce foes slew them. 

And now the woe of the I-rish for their faith grew 
most hard to bear. The cows were slain and the 
crops spoilt ; old folks and young were thrust in 
their homes and burnt with them, and wives 
were found hung from trees with their babes dead 
in their arms. Rich tracts of land were left void 
of man or beast, save for the dead who lay with 
their mouths all green from the dock root they had 
torn from the ground to eat. A ereat En-^lish 
po-et, Ed-mund Spen-ser, tells us this as a fact. 
He got Kil-col-man Cas-tle and a vast tract of land 
from the queen, and he wrote a great po-em, " The 
Fai-ry Queen," in her praise. But he had naught 
but hate for the I-rish. 

At last Fitz-mau-rice went to seek aid from the 



The Gcraldinc League. 



79 



Cath-o-lic courts. Hosts of spies went on his path, 

but at last he got a force. By some bad chance an 

En-glish-man got charge of the fleet and played them 

false. Scarce a month irom the time that Fitz-mau- 

nce set foot on 

his own shore, he 

was slain by his 

own kins- men. 

John Ger-ald-me 

was then made 

head of the 

league. The Earl 

of Des-mond 

took the field, and 

a large force from 



Spain came to his 

aid. But the fort 

in which they 

were fell in the 

hands of Lord 

Gray. When all 

had laid down 

their arms Sir Wal-ter Ra-leigh 

his troops and had that great 

flung down the rocks to the sea 

the^ 




SIR WAL-TER RA-LEIGH. 



in with 

slain and 

The Earl had 



went 
throng 



in 



hap to get off with his life. He hid 
a wood, where he was slain. His vast 



goo 



80 History of Ireland. 

lands were made in parts and giv-en to his 
foes, and that was the end of the Ger-ald-ine 
League. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HUGH O'NEILL. 

But when the war was thus put an end to in 
Mun-ster, it broke out in Ul-ster, led by Hugh 
O'Neill. When this great chief took up arms he 
did so for naught save leave for the folks to hold 
both their rights and their faith at the same time. 
The wrongs of the folks grew more, in place of less, 
their priests were put on the rack and made to feel 
all kinds of fierce pain, hung, or flung in the sea. 
At last O'Neill took the field and laid siege to the 
fort of Black-wa-ter and took it. He won in a 
fierce fight, too, in which the Earl of Or-mond led 
his foes. 

At last the Earl of Es-sex was sent from En-gland 
to break O'Neill's might. In his first fight with 
O'Neill's force the loss of plumes from his men's 
hats was so great that to this day the spot where it 
took place bears the name of " the Pass of the 
Plumes." He then took his march to the north. 



Hugh O'Neill. 81 

When he got to the La-gan, O'Neill came in view 
on the hill be-yond that stream and sent his friend, 
the O'Ha-gan, to ask Es-sex to talk with him. Es- 
sex sent back word that he would, and rode down 
to the bank on his side of the stream. But O'Neill 
did more ; he rode in-to the stream and staid there 
till the talk came to an end. In a short time Es-sex 
had to go back to En-gland, and Lord Mount-joy 
came in his place. He kept up the war, but a 
large force came from Spain to help O'Neill. A 
great fight took place at Kin-sale, in which O'Neill 
was beat, with the loss of a great throng of his men 
whom the En-glish slew in cold blood. O'Neill 
held out, with the few that were left of his men, for 
a long while, but at last he gave in to the queen 
when Lord Mount-joy swore that none would seek 
to turn him from his faith. 

In this reign the Cath-o-lics were told that they 
could have schools of their own no more, nor have 
their own boys and girls taught by those of their 
faith. So the Cath-o-lics built great schools at 
Lis-bon, in Spain, and at Dou-ay and Bor-deaux, in 
France. The Prot-est-ants built Trin-i-ty Col-lege 
at this time on the site of the great home for the 
monks that bore the name of All-Hal-lows in 
Dub-lin. 

When the queen died, James I. came to the 



82 History of Ireland. 

En-glish throne. He kept up the same hard laws 
'gainst the Cath-o-lics. I nthis king's reign O'Neill, 
who had been left for some time in peace, was told 
he must be of the new creed. Then a charge was 
brought 'gainst him and the Earl of Tyr-con-nell 
that they had been in a place where there were 
a great throng of Cath-o-lics met to plot 'gainst the 
king. Both the earls, for O'Neill was Earl of 
Ty-rone, knew this charge was made for naught but 
to grasp their vast lands, so they fled to Rome, 
where they staid till their death. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. 

When the O'Neill fled, Ul-ster's six coun-ties 
were made in parts and giv-en to those whom the 
king chose to have them, Trin-i-ty Col-lege got a 
large grant. Those who got these lands had to 
pledge their word that none who held the Cath-o-lic 
faith should be let have their homes on them. 

When James I. died, Charles I. came to the 
throne. The I-rish found him to be just as hard as 
his sire had been. A great throng of Cath-o-lic 
men of high rank asked the king to grant them free 



The Reign of Charles. I. 83 

trade and the right to hold their lands, and have 
the same laws as the Prot-est-ants. They told the 
king that if he would do this for them, they would 
give him a great sum of gold. Charles took the 
gold, but did not grant what they had sent it to 
him for. The Earl of Straf-ford, who was his great 
friend, told him he would make things all right for 
him in Ire-land. So Charles made him Vice-roy, 
and he did all sorts of base things to gain gold and 
lands for his king. He made what bore the name 
of the " Court of Wards," which had a right to take 
Cath-o-lic boys and girls and bring them up in the 
new creed. 

In this reign an I-rish Cath-o-lic peer, Lord Bal- 
ti-more, went to Ma-ry-land, in A-mer-i-ca. He 
took a throng of men with him, and their wives and 
boys and girls. The names of the ships which 
took them to their new homes were the Ark and 
the Dove. When they got there they built a town 
and let all men come to dwell in it, and made a 
law that each should be left to hold his own faith 
in peace. 

It was in this reign, too, that four wise men 
wrote a great work which told all that was known 
of Ire-land, from its first-known days to their time. 
This work bears the name of "The An-nals of the 
Four Mas-ters." 



84 History of Ireland. 

Things had got to be bad for King Charles in 
En-eland. Ol-i-ver Crom-well had got the might 
in his hands, and the I-rish knew that bad as the 
kings had been to them, the Pu-ri-tans would be 
worse. So they made up their minds to try and 
get free once more. They chose Sir Phe-lim 
O'Neill to lead them, one of the kin of the great 
Hugh O'Neill. Strange to say, they were now the 
sole hope of the king. But when their foes heard 
that they were in arms their rage was great ; and 
one night the En-glish and Scotch who dwelt in 
Car-rick-fer-gus, went to a place of the name of Isle 
Ma-gee, and slew a great throng of I-rish. Sir 
Charles Coote said that he would not spare even a 
babe, were it but a span long. 

O-wen Roe O'Neill, who came to his own land 
from Spain, took Sir Phe-lim's place, as he was 
head of the clan. The war went on for some years, 
and at last Ol-i-ver Crom-well came with a great 
force to put an end to it. He was a hard, fierce 
foe, as the I-rish found. At Wex-ford a truce was 
made, but while it was in force, his troops broke in 
the town and slew all, strong men as well as young 
babes. The shrieks of a great throng of wom-en, 
who got round the great cross in the town, did not 
save them from the swords of the foe. At this time 
the brave chief, O-wen Roe O'Neill, died. Still 




OL-I-VER CROM-WELL. 



86 History of Ireland. 

the I-rish fought on, and when Charles I. had his 
head cut off, they said they would hold Charles, his 
son, as king. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

cromwell's rule — charles ii. 

When Crom-well got the rule in En-gland, he of 
course got it as well in Ire-land. He at once 
sought to take that land from its own race and 
make it the home of the En-glish. So he sent 
a great band of I-rish-men of high birth out of the 
land, and they went to fight for Spain or France. 
They were not let take their wives or boys or girls 
with them, though, and Crom-well sent these as 
slaves to the West In-dies. The rest of the I-rish 
were sent to Con-naught and pent up there ; and it 
was made a law that if one of them should be met 
with out of that place, he who met him might kill 
him. Some would not leave their homes when 
Crom-well bade them, and these were put to death ; 
and of those who did go, some went mad, and some 
took their lives. The wolves were thick in the isle 
at this time, and so the I-rish who left it to fight 
the wars of strange kings, were not let take their 



Cromwell 's Rule — Charles II. 87 

dogs with them. This was felt as a great loss by 
them, for the I-rish dogs were of great fame. The 
hunt was as fierce for the priest as it was for the 
wolf; but the priests staid in spite of it, and, at the 
risk of their lives, kept up the folks to the faith for 
which they bore so much. When the priests were 
found, they were hung, or put on the rack, or sent 
to the West In-dies ; but still from the great schools 
of France or Spain, more came to take their place. 

But at last Crom-well died and Charles II. got 
the crown. He gave no grace to the Pu-ri-tans in 
En-gland, but in Ire-land he let them have things 
their own way. He made a fierce foe of the Cath- 
o-lics, Lord Or-mond, Vice-roy, who did a good deal 
for the trade of the land. At the time of the great 
fire in Lon-don, the I-rish sent as a gift to the town 
a huge load of meat. 

A new plot was got up 'gainst the Cath-o-lics by 
a wretch who bore the name of Ti-tus Oates. 
Through it a great man, Ol-i-ver Plunk-et, Arch- 
bish-op of Ar-magh, lost his life. His foes took 
him from his See to Lon-don, and there hung him. 

The first news-pa-per in Ire-land saw the light in 
this reign in Dub-lin. It was but one sheet of 
small size, and its first word was "Sir." 

And now a word as to the way the folks lived in 
those days. In the reign of James I. forks came in 



88 History of Ireland. 

use from It-a-ly. Folks ate from a long board set 
on a frame, which was then put one side to make 
room for the dance. Chairs were rare in those 
days. Young folks were thought to be bold to 
those who were of rank if they sat on aught but a 
hard stool or a bench. The floor was rush strewn, 
and the walls hung with rich stuffs. Men of high 
rank wore huge wigs and hats with broad brims and 
rich plumes. They wore rich lace at their necks, and 
rich gold lace hung, too, from their short cloaks. 

The dress of the dames did not cost so much 
and was not so rich. They wore curls set out 
on wires at each side of the face, on which they put 
small black specks here-and there. They put paint 
on their cheeks, too. Those of low rank wore 
clothes of cloth, and their food was milk, sweet and 
sour, thick and thin, and bread in cakes. The 
poor folks did not eat much flesh meat, but the men 
found great joy in their short pipes. 



CHAPTER XX. 



JAMES II. 



When Charles died and James II. came to 
the throne the hopes of the Cath-o-lics rose high, 
for the new king was a Cath-o-lic, and said that 




JAMES THE SEC-OND. 



90 History of Ireland. 

each man in his realm might hold the faith he chose 
in peace. The Earl of Tyr-con-nell was made 
Vice-roy. Cath-o-lics were let fight in the ar-my, 
plead at the bar, and take their seats in the Sen-ate. 
But the Prot-est-ants sent word to the Prince of 
Or-ange to come and take the crown. He came 
with a large force, and James fled to France ere he 
struck a blow. 

The Cath-o-lic I-rish in the south were with 
James, but Prot-est-ant Ul-sterwent with Wil-liam. 
Then King James made up his mind to strike a blow 
for his crown, so he went to Ire-land. He made 
Tyr-con-nell a duke, and then went to Dub-lin. 
He made a Par-lia-ment meet and then went to 
Der-ry which had gone with Wil-liam and would 
not yield to King James. So he went back, but 
left troops to starve the town out. The men of 
En-nis-kil-len, who were gainst James, too, kept up 
the fight with his troops so as to help the men of 
Der-ry. At last, in June, a fleet of ships came 
from En-gland with food ; but the I-rish held the 
forts on the Foyle, and the ships could not sail up 
that stream. At last Kirke's troops fought their 
way past the forts and brought help to the men 
of Der-ry, who must else have thrown wide their 
gates to the foe in a short time. And so there was 
an end put to the great siege of Der-ry. 



James II. 9 1 

James now held his Par-lia-ment in Dub-lin. 




king John's cas-tle, limerick. 



He said the Act of Settle- 
ment, for that was the name 
which Crom-well gave to die 
law which sent the Cath-o-lics 
to Con-naught, should be law 
no more. He put forth a 
great deal of base coin, too ; 
that is, he said each coin should be held to be twice 
its real sum. But the trades folk at once put their 



EsP 



THE TREAT-Y STONE. 



92 History of Ireland. 

goods up to twice their real price. Mar-shal Schom- 
berg led a great force to Ire-land to fight for the 
Prince of Or-ange. He went to Car-rick-fer-gus 
and at length took that town from the brave Mc- 
Car-thy More, who held it. Then Wil-liam, Prince 
of Or-ange, came to Ire-land. He led a great 
band of men, En-glish, Dutch, Scotch, Swiss and 
Danes. James's men were all I-rish, save a small 
band of French-men. On the 12th day of Ju-ly 
the two bands met at the Boyne. 
Wil-liam led his men, but James 
staid on a hill two miles from the 
scene of the fight. One of the great 
men who led the I-rish was Pat-rick 
Sars-field, Earl of Lu-can. On both 
sides the men were most brave, but 
sars-field. James did not know how to lead his 
men like Wil-liam. When the En-glish had crossed 
the Boyne and the I-rish made a charge on them, the 
En-glish gave way and James cried out : "Spare, oh 
spare, my En-glish-men." Long and fierce was the 
fight of the I-rish for their king and their faith on 
that day by the Boyne, but it was in vain. King 
James did not wait to see the I-rish flee. As soon 
as he saw how the fight would end he fled to Dub- 
lin and told La-dy Tyr-con-nell that the I-rish had 
brought him ru-in and been most swift in their 




Ji 



antes 



II 



93 



flight from the field. " Yet," said she, with wit and 
truth, "your Ma-jes-ty, I see, has won the race." 
James fled to France, and though the brave I-rish 
kept up the war, town on town was 
tak-en by the foe till at last they got 
to Lim-er-ick. Tyr-con-nell died 
while the I-rish sought to get the 
town fit to stand a charge. The 
foe staid at the gates of Lim- 
er-ick two months, and then 
the town had to give in for jjjj 




|Ji r 'J: 



l *'A 




THE BOYNE O-BE-LISK. 



want of food. A three days truce was sought by 
the I-rish and giv-en. The great men on both 
sides had a talk, and at length put their names to 
what bears the name of the Treat-y of Lim-er-ick. 



94 



History of Ireland. 



The great stone which bore the treat-y while each 
put his name to it, may still be seen, and bears the 
name of the Treat-y Stone. By the terms of this 
treat-y the I-rish were to march out of the town 
with their arms and guns to the beat of drums. 
They were to have free trade, to be let hold their 
faith in peace and have the right to bear arms 
and to sit in Par-lia-ment. They had but put 
their names to the treat-v when a fleet from France 
was seen off the coast, with a great store of things 
with which to keep up the war. But still the I-rish 
kept to their word, and did not break the peace 
they had just made. They sent back the French 
fleet which took with it to France a great band 
of I-rish-men who fought her wars and to whom 
the great Lou-is gave the name of " my brave 
I-rish." 




AN-CIENT TOMB STONE. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PENAL LAWS. 

But the treat-y of Lim-er-ick was not kept by the 
En-glish. Soon a law was made which said that 
no Cath-o-lics or Pa-pists, as their foes made up to 
call them, should bear arms, or have their boys and 
girls taught at all, or own a horse worth more than 
five pounds. No Pa-pist might be taught by a 
Prot-est-ant. This is the way things were 'neath 
Wil-liam's rule ; but when he died and An-ne got 
the crown, they grew much worse. A law T was then 
made to make a man give all his land and coin to 
the child of his that would be a Prot-est-ant. None 
of the rest were to get aught. If a child, though 
too young to know aught of creeds, said he was 
a Prot-est-ant, he was at once tak-en from his folks 
and put in the care of a Prot-est-ant. It was made 
a law, too, that if a priest came to Ire-land and said 
mass, or did aught of a priest's work, he should be 
hung. Cath-o-lics might not buy a house, or get 
rent for it. If one held a farm which brought him 
more than one-third of the rent of it, his right came 
to an end, and it was given to the Prot-est-ant who 
had found it out. If a Cath-o-lic sought to vote, 
he was told he must first take an oath 'gainst the 
pope and the Bless-ed Sac-ra-ment. 



9 6 



History of Ireland. 



Queen An-ne died and George I. came to the 
throne, but the state of the I-rish was the same. 
In this reign the En-glish Par-lia-ment said that it 
had full risfht to make the laws for Ire-land. The 
I-rish Par-lia-ment strove, but in vain ; it was 
soon taught it was a Par-lia-ment but in name. 
It was let do naught but make bad, hard laws 
with which to crush the Cath-o-lics. At this time 
a man of the name of Wood had got the right, 
'neath the broad seal, to coin cop-per half-pence. 
To do this was to flood the land with bad 
coin and make its poor state much worse. 
The I-rish Par-lia-ment did its best to 
keep Wood from this act, but in vain. 
But a great man of that day, Jon-a-than 
Swift, Prot-est-ant Dean of St. Pat-rick's 
Ca-the-dral, Dub-lin, wrote a work in 

which he told the Gov-ern-ment some 
plain truths. He did not put his 
name to this book, but it was so true 
and so strong that it did great work ; 
it kept the bad coin from the land. 
Georee I. died and Georee II. 





reign 



George 

came to the throne. In his 

swift. the Prot-est-ants got Char-ter schools 

in which Cath-o-lic boys and girls were to be 

taught. The land at this time was in a sad, sad 



Penal Laws. 



97 



state. Through the pe-nal laws the poor folks, who 
were all Cath-o-lics, were left void of means to keep 
them-selves. They had to steal, or starve, to live. 




PER-RY SQUARE, LIM-ER-ICK. 



They were in doubt lest the next day should see 
them in their- homes, so all they strove to plant and 
live on was the po-ta-to, which did not need much 
care to grow it. Fine crops would have been tak-en 



98 History of Ireland. 

from them by their harsh land-lords. In 1739 a 
frost made the crop bad, and great throngs of the folks 
died for want of food. A great band went to A-mer- 
i-ca, in the hope that they would find there the 
means to live which were kept from them at home. 

In France the I-rish-men who fought for the 
French king won the field of Fon-ten-oy. When 
this fight had tak-en place the En-glish made a law 
that if an I-rish-man fought for France he should die. 
In Aus-tri-a a band of I-rish-men got each a Cross 
of the Le-gion of Hon-or from Ma-ri-a The-re-sa. 

Two brave men, An-tho-ny Ma-lone and Charles 
Lu-cas, kept on the work of Swift. The Earl of 
Ches-ter-field had the rule in Ireland at this time, 
and did more to win the good will of the I-rish 
folks than those who had been in his place. But a 
new law was made which said that all Cath-o-lics 
who were wed to Prot-est-ants should be as if they 
had not been wed. 

So fierce had the poor folks of the land been 
made by their wrongs that men put them-selves in 
bands to do harm to their foes and hurt their crops 
and lands. These bands bore the name of the 
White-boys, Hearts of Steel, and Peep-o'-day Boys. 
Of course these men were wrong, but those who 
drove them to do these bad deeds were still more 
wrong. Not a few of these rash men were hung. 



CHAPTER XXII 



THE IRISH PARLIAMENT FREED. 



When George II. died, 
George III. came to the 
throne. Soon the A-mer-i- 
can Col-o-nies tried to get 
free from En-gland. The 
I-rish in the En-glish Par-lia- 
ment said that they hoped 
they would do so. The I-rish 
House of Com-mons, that is 
the men in Par-lia-ment who 
were not peers, said they 
would send no troops to 
A-mer-i-ca. So the En-glish 
got the Hes-sians to go and 
fight for them. Of those 
men who put their names to 
the Dec-la-ra-tion of In-de- 
pend-ence, nine were I-rish- 
men, and it was an I-rish-man, Col-o-nel Nix-on, 
who first read it to the folks. The first fight on 
the sea took place neath the rule of an I-rish- 
man, O'Bri-en ; and John Bar-ry, who bears the 
name of Fa-ther of the A-mer-i-can Navy, was an 




BURKE S HOUSE, DUB-LIN. 



IOO 



History of Ireland. 




I-rish-man, too. A great I-rish-man, by name of 

Ed-mund Burke, who wrote 
some of the best things in 
our tongue, made his voice 
heard for the brave men of 
A-mer-i-ca. 

At last, when the folks in 
the States won a great fight, 
En-gland made the pe-nal 
laws a shade less hard. Cath- 
o-lics were let rent land or lend 
out coin. The folks of Bel- 
fast were in fear lest the 
French should come down 

on them. They sought aid from the En-glish, but 

got word back that there were no troops to send 

them, as they were all meant for A-mer-i-ca. So 

the men of the land put them-selves in bands, and 

learned how to fight, and in a short time Ire-land 

had a great force to send in the field. 

A small band of great men, Flood, 

Per-ry, Grat-tan, and the Earl of 

Char-le-mont, got En-gland to say it 

would look on these men as troops. 

Then Grat-tan sought to get free 

trade for the land, and, at length, got 

it. 



■■r^c 



BURKE. 




But this great man sought more 



GRAT-TAN. 



The Irish Parliament Freed. 101 

than this boon. His great aim was to have the I-rish 
Par-lia-ment made free from the En-glish to make 
its own laws and have the folks bound by naught 
save those laws. This great work he did, and the 
Par-lia-ment that he had freed at once rave him 
a great sum in thanks, and the king twice the sum. 
In the same year more pe-nal laws were made null 
and void. 

'Neath the free Par-lia-ment, peace came back to 
the land, trade grew great, the Bank of Ire-land 
was set up, and all went well. But the brave men 
who did all this for Ire-land had left one thing not 
done — they had not got leave for Cath-o-lics to vote, 
hence the I-rish Par-lia-ment was but free in name, 
for En-gland could get bands of men who sat in the 
I-rish Par-lia-ment to vote as it said by bribes. 
Re-form now got to be the aim of the small band 
of I-rish-men who had done so much. But when 
Grat-tan tried to get some of the laws that hurt 
I-rish trade made null and void, he saw that 
En-gland had not meant to do what he had sought 
when she had made Ire-land free. 

He found a fierce foe in Wil-liam Pitt, Earl of 
Chat-ham. At last, in 1793, Cath-o-lics got leave 
to vote through the aid of John Ke-ogh, him-self 
a Cath-o-lic. Par-lia-ment made a law at this time 
that bore the name of the Arms Act, which said 



102 



History of Ireland. 



that no arms should be brought in the land. This 
made the large band of troops break up. 

The Col-lege of May-nooth was built at this time. 
It is a great school for priests. In 

this age there was a 

throng of great I-rish- 

men in En-gland as 

well as in Ire-land. 

Ol-i-ver Gold - smith, 

who wrote the Vi-car 

of Wake-field, Sher-i- 

dan, who wrote great 

plays and made 

speech on grand 

speech at the bar ; 

and Bar-rett and 

Bar-ry, who knew STAT - UE OFGRAT " TAN - 
how to paint so well, were I-rish-men. The list is 
far too long for me to write here, but when you 
grow up and read of the things that were done in 
all lines in these days, you will see that each art 
had I-rish-men who did ereat work for it. 





STAT-UE OF BURKE. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 




BADGE. 



THE UNITED IRISHMEN. 

Ere the Cath-o-lics got leave to 
vote, a great throng of them had met 
at Dub-lin to beg Par-lia-ment to 
give them leave to do so. A band 
of Prot-est-ants went in with them to 
help them to get it, and so from this 
rose what is known as the U-ni-ted 
I-rish-men. Wolfe Tone was the 
name of the man who made this band up. Each man 
took an oath to make the I-rish Par-lia-ment free and 
just, and with the good of the land as its sole aim 
in all things. But some more men who had not the 
same pure love of their land, made up a band that 
took the name of Or-ange-men. These bound them- 
selves by oath to stand by the king in all things. 
Pitt sent Lord Fitz-wil-liam as Vice-roy, and this 
gave the Par-lia-ment such joy that it at once gave 
a great sum and a large band of men for the French 
war. But as soon as Pitt got this he sent for the 
Vice-roy to go home. 

The I-rish Par-lia-ment would not act right. It 
would have no re-form, coin could still buy its men 
to vote what they who paid it should will, and it made 



io4 



History of Irelcwid. 




FITZ-GER-ALD. 



laws to hurt the folks when they sought to change 

this state of things. At last Grat-tan, Cur-ran, 
Fitz-ger-ald, and some more gave up 
their seats in it. All this time the 
U-ni-ted I-rish-men had sought to 
make their band fit to fight for their 
rights. The gov-ern-ment knew 
this, but let 
them go on 
in the hope 

that they would wreak 

their own down-fall. The 

law of war times was made 

the law of the day ; bands 

of En-glish, Scotch, and 

Welsh foes were brought 

in the land and let live 

where they chose, free. 

Caps of hot pitch were 

put on the heads of the 

poor I-rish, they got 

score on score of 

strokes from great 

whips, some were half 

hung, and more were 

hung till dead. No man was sure of his life. 
All this time Wolfe Tone sought to get aid from 




WOLFE TONE. 



The United Irishmen. 105 

France to make his land free. The French had 
just put their king, Lou-is, to death, and it was from 
the men who were at the head of things in France 
in the king's place, that he sought help. At length 
he got a large force in France. The French fleet 
set sail for Ire-land, but did that poor land no good. 
Some of the ships got to Ban-try Bay and rode the 
waves there for a week, but a fog kept the rest of 
the fleet from them, and so they set sail for France 
once more. 

Still the U-ni-ted I-rish-men got more and more 
men to join them. One of the best and most brave 
men who did so was Lord Ed-mund Fitz-ger-ald. 
He was gay and frank in his air and mien, and 
had won the love of all who knew him. He knew 
how to fight well, too, and this with his rank made 
him a great help to that brave band of men. But 
the En-glish who had the rule were strong and rich, 
and their coin paid scores of spies to find out what 
the I-rish had in view. The most of these spies 
were of a low class, but there were some, too, of 
fair rank in the world. One of the name of Rey- 
nolds, of Kil-leen Cas-tle, took his place in their 
ranks to play them false. 

In Ar-magh the folks had to bear much at this 
time. The land there was strewn with what was 
left of their burnt homes, and scores of poor folks 



106 History of Ireland. 

sought for food and a roof in vain, nor was there 
aught done to the Or-ange-men for their vile work. 
When the French fleet had come and gone the 
rage grew yet more fierce gainst the Cath-o-lics. 
At last the Cath-o-lics made up a band which bore 
the name of De-fend-ers, but their foes gave them 
the name of thieves. 

While sword and fire did the work of the foe in 
those dark days of Ire-land, Wolfe Tone was in 
France, where he still sought aid to break her 
chains. Things went on well to this end, too, at 
home, for the De-fend-ers took their place in the 
ranks of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men. When these 
were put in jail for the same kind of acts for which 
Or-ange-men got naught, Cur-ran would plead for 
them at the bar, of which he was a great light. 
Those who were at the heads of this brave band 
bade the folks bear their wrongs in peace till the 
great day should come on which to rise and turn on 
their foes. They were most strong in Ul-ster and 
in Kil-dare, West-meath, Meath and King's Coun- 
ty. Each man who was of this band kept from 
strong drink, and the rows that were wont to take 
place at the fairs were heard of no more, so that 
those who were at the head of things got to think 
that there must be some work on foot. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

WOLFE TONE SEEKS THE AID OF THE FRENCH AND DUTCH. 

Wolfe Tone, while in France, was on the staff 
of Gen-e-ral Hoche (Hosh), who was most kind to 
him. Ar-thur O'Con-nor and Lord Ed-ward Fitz- 
ger-ald had been to France for aid, but things were 
not yet ripe, so they went back, and still no time 
was set. But now a man of the name of Lew-ins 
went to France and met with Tone, and the two 
went to Holland to try and raise a force. Hol-land 
at this time had no King, and bore the name of the 
Ba-ta-vi-an Re-pub-lic. It did as France did, and 
was the foe of En-gland, so its chief men were of 
a mind to risk all in this great work. But their 
great wish was to have the whole fame of it ; they 
could not brook the thought of French aid. Their 
land was not so great as it had once been ; and so 
they sought to do this grand work and set Ire-land 
free by their own selves, and so reap fame and give 
their land back the proud place she had once held 
in the ranks of the na-tions of the earth. They 
made Tone state the aim of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men, 
and when he said that it was to throw off the yoke 
of En-gland for good and all, and make their land 
great and free, they were glad to hear it. One chief 



io8 History of Ireland. 

man there of the name of Van-Ley-den said he had 
been in Ire-land, and that, to judge from all that 
the rich had, and all that the poor had not, he 
thought that the land stood in need of a great 
change. 

When the French Gen-er-al Hoche found out 
that the Dutch had so strong a wish to do the work 
by them-selves, he gave in like a brave, wise man, 
and said they might. So the I-rish sent a map that 
the next fleet might take care to not land on the 
rude, wild coasts of Bear or Ban-try. Those who 
sent the map said that Oys-ter Ha-ven would be 
the best place to land. So it was made up that 
Wolfe Tone should sail in the Dutch fleet with the 
same rank that he had held in the French. Just at 
this time the men on the En-glish ships broke all 
their rules and said they would not do their work. 
This strife on the En-glish ships was kept up for 
some weeks, and the hopes of the Dutch ran high, 
but then the men were brought to terms by more 
pay, and En-gland was as strong as she had been 
on the sea. 

But when the fleet and land force of the Dutch 
were fit to sail, the wind blew the wrong way, and 
week on week went by, and still there was naught 
done. Then the chief men of the Dutch spoke of 
En-gland or Scot-land as the place to set sail for, in 



Wolfe Tone Seeks the Aid of the French and Dutch. 109 



the place of 
Ire-land, and 
Wolfe Tone's 
hopes grew 
dim. He set 
off for France 
to have a talk 




VIEWS IN BEL-FAST. 
PRES-BY-TE-RI-AN COLLEGE. METH-O-DIST COL-LEGE. QUEEN'S BRIDGE. 



no The Rising of 1798. 

with Hoche, but he found that brave man near his 
death, which soon took place. 

All at once the men who were at the head of 
things in Hol-land told the fleet to sail. It did so, 
but soon met the En-glish fleet. A fierce fight took 
place, but the Dutch lost. The foe took ten of their 
ships, and so put an end to the might of the Dutch 
on the sea. 

Tone now put all his hopes on France. He 
sought aid from Bo-na-parte, and for a while thought 
he would get it. But while he strove in strange 
lands the din of war was heard at home. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE RISING OF I 7 9 8. 

The En-glish, through their spies, had learnt all 
of the work of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men, and made 
these spies stir up the folks to fight ere the time 
should be ripe to do so. A man of the name of 
Wil-liam Orr, who was of fair rank in the world, 
and dwelt in Fer-ran-shane, in An-trim, was said 
bv his foes to have mv-en the oath of the U-ni-ted 
I-rish-men to a man. Cur-ran, as was his wont, 
plead well for Orr, but to no use. He was hung 
at Car-rick-fer-gus. 



The Rising of 1 798. 1 1 1 

In a short time Ar-thur O'Con-nor was put in jail 
with a priest in En-gland. Both were tried and 
the priest was hung and the O'Con-nor kept in jail. 

At length the year of 1798 set in. In its first 
three months the men whose place it was to see 
that the law was kept, did all sorts of bad, hard acts 
to the folks of Lein-ster, and these with the aid 
of the troops there. The Earl of Moir-a made 
a great speech in the En-glish House of Lords to 
show how great were the ills of the I-rish. The cur- 
few, or bell to put out all lights, which Wil-liam the 
Con-quer-or had rung for the Sax-ons each night 
at eight of the clock, was rung at this time in Ire- 
land, and so strict were those who had it done that 
a man whose child lay in bad fits all through the 
night plead in vain for leave to keep a light in his 
house. If a man was thought to have arms hid in 
his house he was tak-en off by troops and put in jail. 
If he would not tell what they sought to get from 
him, he was made to stand with one foot on the point 
of a sharp stake. If his foes felt like it, they burned 
the man's house and goods. 

But Lord Moir-a's speech did no good. So then 
he came to Ire-land and tried to get some change 
made in the state of things by the Par-lia-ment, but 
his speech in Dub-lin did no more good than the 
one he had made in Lon-don. Lord Clare, who was 



1 1 2 History of Ireland. 

Chan-cel-lor at that time, said he knew naught of 
his land, for he had dwelt too long out of it. 

At last the folks got to meet at night to talk of 
the time when they would rise and seek the arms 
they stood in need of. One day a band of them 
rode in to the town of Ca-hir, in Tip-pe-ra-ry, and 
took off all the arms they could find, but hurt no 
one. Sir Ralph Ab-er-crom-bie, who had charge 
of the king's troops in Ire-land, threw up his post at 
this time and went home, for he found that the 
troops were to goad the poor folks on to rage so 
that they would rise ere the time that had been set. 
Sir Ralph found that he could not make his troops 
hold to the strict rule that they should keep, so he 
went home, and Gen-e-ral Lake took his place. 

As time went on, all felt through the land as if 
they trod on a mine. The troops made their home 
in the house that they chose, and the man had to 
keep them free of all charge. Wex-ford now felt in 
its turn the harsh rule of the law of war time in 
a time of peace. 

Though a large throng of the U-ni-ted I-rish- 
men were Prot-est-ants, the Or-ange-men did all 
they could to make out that they were all Cath-o- 
lics, and had no end in view save to fall on the Prot- 
est-ants and kill them. If one were to go in the 
street with a bit of green on his hat or dress, or 



The Rising of 1 798. 1 1 3 

were to go with short hair, he got the name of 
Crop-py, or foe to the men who held the rule in the 
land. So those who strove to make the land free 
would seize some of their foes and cut their hair 
short in the hope that they would be tak-en as foes 
by those on their own side and get the cap of pitch 
which they kept for Crop-pies. 

While this was the state of things, a band of 
I-rish Cath-o-lic lords and Bish-op Hus-sey, the 
head of the great school for priests at May-nooth, 
wrote to those who had made a league to get the land 
free, and said that they were reb-els to the king. 

The plan of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men was to rise 
all at once through the land. For each mail-coach 
to stop on a night in May was to be the sign, and 
they were to seize Dub-lin Cas-tle. 

But three days ere the time had come, a band 
of troops went to the house where Lord Ed-ward 
Fitz-ger-ald was hid, to take him. One man ran up 
the stairs and in to the room where he lay on the 
bed. The man went to the bed and told him to get 
up and go with him to jail. But Lord Ed-ward 
tried to fire off his small gun, which would not go; 
so he drew a knife and gave his foe a stab. Then 
a man came in to help his foe, and then one more of 
the name of Sirr. So to these three foes Lord Ed- 
ward had to rive in at last, for one had dealt 



1 1 4 History of Ireland. 

him a bad wound, of which he died the next 
month. 

When the heads of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men had 
been all put in jail, there was of course no one left to 
tell the men what to do. Still they tried to do their 
best. They rose first in Lein-ster, but were beat 
by the king's troops, though they fought hard. 
When they were beat they were dealt with in a 
fierce, hard way. On the next day they rose in 
Car-low, when the mail-coach did not come. But 
they were beat in a short time here, too, and a great 
band of them shot or hung. In Meath and Kil- 
dare they were soon put down, in fact in a few days 
there was no need for the troops to fight at all. But 
at a place which bore the name of the Gib-bet Rath, 
in Kil-dare, which had once been a fort of the 
Danes, a great throng said they would give up 
their arms and keep the peace. But Sir James 
Duff led a great force on them, and slew them in 
cold blood. In a few days a great throng was slain 
too, at the Hill of Tar-a, in Meath. At last the 
flame of war broke out in Wex-ford. Up to this 
time .the priests had done their best to make the 
folks bear their wrongs in peace, and wait for God 
to work some change in His £ood time. But on 
Whit-Sun-day, the King's troops burnt the small 
church at Bou-la-vogue. The priest there, whose 



End of the War. i 1 5 

name was John Mur-phy, who had up to this time 
tried to turn the men from their wish to fight, now 
put him-self at their head on this hard blow, led 
them to En-nis-cor-thy, and took that town. They 
made their camp on Vin-e-gar Hill, out-side of the 
town. The troops there fled in great fear. Some 
of the Prot-est-ants who were thought to hold with 
the U-ni-ted I-rish-men had been put in jail. They 
now got free, and one of them of the name of Har- 
vey, took the lead of the I-rish. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

END OF THE WAR. 

A large force of the king's troops led by Loft-us 
now went to Wexford. He got New Ross from 
the I-rish, but would not have got it if the I-rish had 
not got too much strong drink, and had but done 
what their chiefs told them. They slew a band of 
men who had been tak-en by them. This vile act was 
done to match the acts that had been done by the foe. 
John Mur-phy, the brave priest, was slain at Car- 
low. Har-vey gave up his post as chief, and the 
I-rish chose Phil-ip Roche, who was a priest too, to 
take his place. Those foes whom they took they 
put in jail, but one of the name of Dix-on, who had 



n6 



History of Ireland. 



a thirst for their blood, took a great throng of them 
to the bridge in the town, and, with the aid of some 
more as vile as him-self, made out to try them, and 
then ran pikes in to some of them and threw them 
in to the stream. A priest .ran to the spot in time 
to save the rest. The king's troops now sought 
with all their might to take the camp on Vin-e-gar 




LON-DON-DER-RY. 



Hill, and at last took it, for the I-rish had no more 
stuff with which to load their corns. The kind's 
troops now did some more bad deeds. The house 
in which lay the men who had got wounds was set 
fire to, and the sick men shot in their beds. The 
bridge of Wex-ford, where a priest had made 
the I-rish spare their foes, was now a scene of blood 



End of the War. 



117 



in spite of the words of the head men 
on the kind's side that it should not 
be so. Phil-ip Roche, the brave priest, 
was put to death 
at once. John 
Red-mond, a 
good priest who 
had naught to do 
with the U-ni-ted 
I-rish-men, but 
had sought to 
from 




LON-DON-DER-RY CA-THE-DRAL AND ITS IN-TE-RI-OR. 



1 1 8 History of Ireland. 

that league, had kept Lord Mount-mor-ris and 
some of his friends from hurt by them. He could 
do this, for the I-nsh would do what a good priest 
bade them, though he were friend or foe to them. But 
now, his foes said he must have been of their band 
or he could not have done it; and so they hung him. 

In An-trim, the I-rish were led by Hen-ry Mc- 
Crack-en. They were beat and their chief hung. 
Soon Lord Corn-wal-lis was sent to Ire-land to take 
charge of the land. The next month a truce was 
made, and the great mass of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men 
were let leave the land, but quite a band of them w T as 
hung. Cur-ran plead hard for these men when 
they were tried, though this was by no means a 
safe work. Once as he spoke his voice was lost 
in a clash of arms. "What is that?" he said, with 
a stern look, and then said some thing more, the 
sense of which was that they might kill him, but 
could not fright him. 

The town of Dub-lin was now 'neath the rule of 
three men who bore the name of the three Ma-jors. 
Sirr, Swan and San-dys. They had a vile lot of 
men who did their work for them. These dwelt in 
a house near Kil-main-ham jail, that bore the name 
of Stag House, and the yard of it, the Stag yard. 
San-dys kept the Prev-ot jail in the Roy-al Bar- 
racks. It was a close, dark place, full of bad smells, 



End of the IVar. 



119 



and he sold more air, 
more food, and more 
light to those who could 
pay for them. The 
court in the rear of the 
Roy-al Ex-change was 
a place where the I-rish 
were beat with great 
whips, or made stand 
with one foot on the 
point of a sharp stake, 
or had caps of pitch 
put on their heads to 




BISH-OP S GATE, LON-DON-DER-RY. 




STREET IN LON-DON-DER-RY. 



1 20 History of Ireland. 

make them tell all they knew of the men on their 
side. 

At this time, too, each man had to put on his 
front door a list of all who dwelt in his house ; yet 
this did not save him from the troops, who went in 
a house if they felt like it, and would then say vile 
things to those in it, and take off rich plate. Three 
of the U-ni-ted I-rish-men were shut up in Fort 
George, a strong place in Scot-land. 

In this time of woe Par-lia-ment sat from time 
to time. There were some men in it who held 
that it would be well for Ire-land to have no Par- 
lia-ment, but let the En-glish one make laws for her. 
These were men who sought to please the En-glish. 

As for Wolfe Tone, who was still in France, he 
sought hard to get the French to send a force to 
his land. But things were not well in France at 
this time. Bo-na-parte was in a far off land, and 
there was no real head to things there. At last 
Gen-er-al Hum-bert led a small force which made 
the coast of Con-naught. They went on shore at 
Kil-lal-a, and at once took that small town. But 
they hurt no one who gave in to them, and did no 
harm to the homes or the rich things in them. 
They went on to Bal-lin-a, and when they took that 
town they hung a green flag o'er the gate to get the 
I-rish to join them. But the French had no cash. 



End of the War. 121 

They said it would come from France in a day or 
two, and in the mean time they gave notes to pay 
for all they got. In a short time they went on to 
Cas-tle-bar, where a large force led by Lake, met 
them and was beat by them. The king's troops 
fled to Tu-am and from thence to Ath-lone. So 
quick was their flight that it still bears the name in 
that part of the land of the "race of Cas-tle-bar." 
So the French gave a ball in that town to its fair 
dames that same night. 

At length Lord Corn-wal-lis set out to meet the 
French with a great force. But he found the 
French had gone on to the Shan-non. They went 
to Bal-lin-tra to cross it, and so close on their heels 
were the king's troops that they could not break 
down the bridge at that town as they had a wish 
to do. Lord Corn-wal-lis came to the same side of 
the stream as the French were, at Car-rick-on-Shan- 
non. He caught the French at Saint-Johns-town. 
A fierce fight took place, but the French had too 
small a force by far and were beat. The same 
fierce acts were done that had been done as soon as 
each fight was won. Some were hung, some were 
shot, and homes were burnt. Ere the bad news 
had got to France, a fleet of nine ships set off for 
Ire-land. On one of its ships was Tone. It made 
for the far north coast, but met with bad winds, 



122 History of Ireland. 

which made the ships part. At last the chief of the 
fleet found him-self with but tour of his ships off 
the bay of Loch-Swil-ly. Ere he could get in it 
with his ships, though, he saw a sign made to him to 
stop from the head ship of an En-glish fleet. The 
French-man knew that all was lost for his own ship, 
for she was large and not made to sail fast. So he 
made up his mind to fight for his flag, though his 
fight were vain. But he sent word to all the rest 
of his ships to sail off. One ship, by name the 
Biche (Bish), which in French means hind, was 
light and swift, and had the best chance to get off. 
She sent a boat to the chief ship of the fleet, to beg 
Tone to go on board and get off. "What! and 
have it said I fled while the French fought for my 
land!" He would not stir. The Biche got off safe. 
The Hoche (Hosh), on which Tone was, stood the 
fire of the whole En-ghsh fleet for six hours. At 
last she struck her flag, when she was naught save 
a wreck. Tone fought like one who had no hope, 
but was not slain. At last, when the foe took the 
ship, he was not known for aught save a French- 
man, so much had he grown to act, and talk and 
look like one. It was thought that he lay in the 
heaps of slain, for it was known he had been on 
board. When the French were made march to 
Let-ter-ken-ny, Tone went in their ranks, still not 



End of the War. 123 

known. Lord Cav-an had them to take a meal with 
him at his house. Sir George Hill, who had been 
at school with Tone, went there to see if he could 
find him out. He went in the room where Tone 
sat in the midst of the French and knew him at 
once. He went up to him and said, "Mr. Tone, 
I am most glad to see you." Wolfe Tone at once 
rose and said in a calm way, "Sir George, I am 
glad to see you," and then went on to ask for his 
wife and all his near kin. For this work, Sir 
George Hill got a large sum from the crown. 
When Tone went in to the next room, he found 
troops to take him off. When he saw that they 
w r ere to place hand-cuffs on him, he flung off the 
coat that the French troops wear, for he said he 
would not wear it with those vile things on him. 
The troops took him to Dub-lin, where he was at 
once tried. In court he was calm and strong, so 
much so that his foes could not keep their praise 
from him. Though he was high in rank in the 
French ar-my, and so should have been shot, as is 
the rule, he was told he would be hung in two days' 
time. Cur-ran tried hard to save him on this plea, 
but in vain. Tone knew that it would be in vain, 
so he cut his throat and lay in great pain for more 
than six days, and then died with no friend near 
him. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



THE UNION ROBERT EMMET.' 



I re -land had now 
been brought to the last 
stage of woe, and it was 
thought by her foes that 
the times were now fit 
to talk of the Un-ion of 
the two lands. Pitt, who 
was the chief man in 
En-gland at this time, 
had set his heart on this 
plan, and made up his 
mind to bring it to pass 
at all cost. The great 
part of the I-rish had 
naught but hate for this 
plan, and said so as far as 
they dare So to get 
the work done, scores of bribes had to be dealt 
out on all sides. Each class of men were told 
they would have what they sought most if they 
would help to get the work done. The boon of 
E-man-ci-pa-tion was held out to Cath-o-hcs, that is, 
the same rights in all things as Prot-est-ants. Those 




ROB-ERT EM-MET. 



The U nio7i — Robert Emmet. 125 

at the bar were told they would get high rank, the 
poor folks were told that their work would fetch 
fine sums, and so the work went on. Grat-tan was 
not in Ire-land at this time, and so the poor land was 
left with-out his aid in her great need. 

At length the last night came on which the Par- 
lia-ment of Ire-land was to meet. Pitt had done 
his work well, and the foes of the Un-ion had had 
to yield. Great throngs were in the House, but 
none bore an air of ease ; all felt that a great, and 
some that a most sad, time had come. The Bill for 
the un-ion of the Par-lia-ments of Great Brit-ain 
and Ire-land was read for the third time, as each 
bill must be read three times ere it is made law. 
It was done, and then those who sat in Par-lia-ment 
were told to say yes or no to it, as they thought 
it should be law or not. There were more ayes 
than noes, so the head man said out loud, ''The 
ayes have it ; " and so Pitt's work was done, and 
Ire-land had a Par-lia-ment no more. This was in 
the year 1800, and from that time the gold Harp 
of Ire-land has had its place on the flag of En- 
gland. 

The sum that it had cost the En-glish to put 
down the late war was put on to the debt of Ire- 
land. This had scarce been made a law ere those 
Cath-o-lics who had been of help to the work, in 



126 History of Ireland. 

the hope of their E-man-ci-pa-tion, found that they 
had been the dupes of the En-glish. Pitt well 
knew when he had put forth that hope to the 
Cath-o-lics that it was a vain one. The king, George 
III., was far from bright, and could not be brought 
to see that such a step as to grant the Cath-o-lics 
the same rights as Prot-est-ants would not harm these 
last in some way. But Pitt was a wise man and 
knew a vast deal of state craft. His post as chief 
man in the State grew to be a hard one at this time. 
So he gave it up, and said he did so for naught save 
that the king would not let him keep his word to the 
Cath-o-lics. The first act, in truth, of the U-ni-ted 
Par-lia-ment was to make null and void all laws 
save the law of war time, in Ire-land. It was said 
that there were still some who had a wish to keep 
up the war there. And so the land laws, which 
were the real cause of Ire-land's woe, were left as 
they had been. The Prot-est-ant Church, which 
in the time of E-liz-a-beth had been made the 
Church of the land, had to be kept up by the Cath- 
o-lics. This, to say the least, was a queer thing, as 
you must see, for the folks of the land were of the 
old faith, and would not go in or have aught to do 
with a Prot-est-ant Church, and yet they were made 
keep it up by their foes, and give their means to do so. 
At this time France and En-gland, which had 



The Union — Robert Emmet. 



127 



been at war, made peace, but the peace was kept 
but a short 



time. War 
broke out 
once more, 
and Pitt 
once more 
got to be 
the chief 
man in the 
realm. But 
he said 




DROG-HE-DA DOCKS. 



naught of 
the rights 
of Cath-o- 
lics, and I 
dare say did 
not think 
aught of 
them, for he 
had great 
plans to 
work out. 



In this first year of the Un-ion Ire-land felt 



128 History of Ireland. 

great want. The crops were far from what they 
ought to have been, and so want and woe were 
felt in the land. The fair hopes that had been held 
out to those in trade came to naught, and her great 
debt hune round Ire-land's neck like a mill stone. 

Ar-thur O'Con-nor, Thom-as Ad-dis Em-met 
and Rob-ert Em-met were at this time in France. 
Rob-ert Em-met was a man with a great soul, which 
the si^ht of his land's £reat wrongs made burn with 
a wish to set her free. He met more men like him- 
self, who, though it might be rash, could not see her 
bear her fierce wrongs, and keep still. They made 
a plan to make one great spring at the Cas-tle of 
Dub-lin, and get it in their hands. Em-met went 
to Ire-land, and soon got a good stock of arms hid 
in a safe place in Dub-lin. While he was in that 
town old Mr. Em-met died, but his son Rob-ert 
durst not go to his home, for he did not wish it 
to be known that he was in Ire-land. But one 
week and a few days had to go by ere the time to 
rise, when one night a store of the stuff that is put 
in the guns to fire them, went off with a loud noise. 
Ma-jor Sirr went at once to the house from whence 
the noise came, but ere he got there the friends of 
Em-met had hid the rest of the stuff and the arms. 

When the day came which had been set, Em-met 
and his friends could not make up their minds to 



The Union — Robert Emmet. 129 

the same plan. Some thought the time was not 
ripe to rise, and some thought it was. But Em-met 
made up his mind to go on with the work. His 
plan was for the men from Wex-ford, Kil-dare and 
Wick-low to join at a house on the Coal Quay, 
Dub-lin, and go from thence, led by him, to 
the Cas-tle. But spies met the Kil-dare men as 
they came in, and told them that Em-met had 
made up his mind not to rise that night. The 
Wex-ford men came in but did not get the sign 
that they were to have had, and so did naught to 
help. The man who was sent to tell the Wick-low 
men, by whom Em-met had set great store, did not 
go, and so of course they did not come at all. 
When eight of the night came, the hour that had 
been set, Em-met found that he had but a small, 
small part of the force that was to have been led 
by him. As he thought on what steps were best to 
take, a man, no doubt a spy, ran in and said the 
king's troops were hard by. At once Em-met made 
up his mind to lead his men on to the Cas-tle, and so 
meet death in that way. But this poor boon, to die 
with his arms in his hands, was not to be this brave 
man's. 

He had but a rude, queer sort of force to lead 
out, some of whom were drunk. With a sad heart 
he went on his way, a friend at his side. Soon the 



1 30 History of Ireland. 

men in the rear threw off all rule and did mad acts. 
A coach drove through the street just then, and these 
wild men, who had flung to one side all rule of their 
brave chief, and were naught but a mad mob, got 
round it and made it stand still. The coach held 
Lord Kil-war-den, Chief Judge of the King's Bench, 
and a wise, good man. He thought if they knew 
who he was they would do him no harm, so he said 
out loud, "It is I, Kil-war-den, Chief Judge of the 
King's Bench." The words had scarce left his lips 
when one of the mob ran to him and thrust a pike 
in-to him. They then took him out of the coach 
and gave him more wounds, and then left him all 
but dead in the street. A young girl, one of his 
most near kin, was left in the coach till one of the 
chief of the mob took her by the hand and led her 
to a house near by. Bad as they were, they said or 
did naught to her; but a young man, one of the 
judge's kin, too, though not so near as the young 
girl, was put to death. The young girl went on foot 
to the Cas-tle and told there the dire news, and help 
was sent at once. The judge was found in the 
street, still not dead. Kind hands took him up and 
bore him to the watch house. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DEATH OF EMMET HARD TIMES. 

When word was brought to Em-met of this black 
deed he went back to the scene of it and saw for 
himself. From that time he gave up all hope of 
his work. He could do naught with a mob whose 
aim was to steal and kill, so he and his few true 
friends fled. The king's troops soon put down the 
mob, and so all was once more lost. Yet the Wex- 
ford men were in wait all this time 'neath the rule 
of Miles Byrne, for word which was not sent to 
them. 

Em-met went to Rath-farn-ham, and from thence 
to the hills of Wick-low, where he found bands of 
men who had got all things fit to fight. But Em- 
met, who had lost all hope, told them to think no 
more of such a thing; that there was not the least 
hope that it would turn out well, or do aught save 
cause blood to be shed. 

His friends then plead with Em-met to leave the 
land and go to France, but Em-met would not do 
this till he had seen once more a young girl who 
was most dear to him. This was Sa-rah Cur-ran, 
whose sire, John Phil-pot Cur-ran, had plead so hard 
at the bar to save the U-ni-ted I-rish-men when they 



132 History of Ireland. 

were tried. So he went back to his old place in town, 
and there the king's troops found him and took him 
at once to jail. He was tried, and made a grand 
speech which has been read, no doubt, by all who 
speak our tongue. Some day you will read it too, 
and see that to a brave man who loves his land and 
sees her in chains, death is naught when hope is 
dead. In this speech he said he did not wish aught 
put on his tomb till his land had tak-en her place 
'mid the na-tions of the earth. Mrs. Em-met died 
while her son was in jail. On the day that the 
news of her death was told to him, he was hung. 
He was calm and strong to the end, and his tomb 
lies with the white, smooth stone still blank, for 
his land is not yet free. 

A great throng of grand, brave men had now 
been hung in the space of a few years, and it was 
thought by her foes that Ire-land would now give 
up all hope and be in peace. To make the peace 
kept, though, all sorts of harsh acts were done once 
more, the law of war was put in force once more, 
and each judge went his rounds with a guard of 
troops. A throng of Cath-o-lics of high rank 
and the Arch -bish -ops of Dublin and Ar- 
magh wrote to Lord Hard-wicke, who was then 
Vice-roy, and told him that they held with the 
king, and had naught but hate for the men who had 



Death of Emmet — Hard Times. 



m 



done the 
late vile 
acts, and 
that great 
I as their 
il wish was 
to have 
the same 
rights as 
the Prot- 
est-ants, 
they had 
done, and 
do, naught to get 
them save through the just 
way of Par-lia-ment. 

This act on their part was 
brought to pass by a fear lest 
they might be thought to have 
had a share in the base acts 
of the mob who slew Lord 
Kil-war-den. When Lord 
Hard-wicke spoke to them to 
thank them for what they had 
said to him, he said not a word as to their great 
wish to get their rights and have a share in the 
con-sti-tu-tion. 




BRAY HEAD, WICK-LOW 

would 



134 History of Ireland. 

In the tall of this year, though but four-score of 
men had been in the lead of Em-met, all the jails 
were as full as they could be. The state of these 
were such as to make death a boon. In Bel-fast no 
one dare go out of his house when once eight of the 
night had struck, and in Cork a list had to be put 
on the main door of all who dwelt in the house. 
The same rule was in force in Dub-lin. The troops 
sought in each house for arms. At this time 
Thom-as Ad-dis Em-met, and Ar-thur O'Con-nor 
sought to get the French to help them once more. 
Miles Byrne had got safe out of Dub-lin and got 
to France. There was at this time such a troop of 
I-rish-men in France that Bo-na-parte made them 
in-to a troop which bore the name of the I-rish Le- 
gion. There were none else to serve in it save the 
sons of I-rish-men who had been born in France. 
This brave troop went to a small town on the 
French coast till the time should come for them to 
be led to Ire-land, as Bo-na-parte had said they 
should be, for he was to give a large force of his 
own to free Ire-land. Here as the days went by 
these brave men would look o'er the blue sea, and 
think they could see the crests of the hills of their 
own dear land. 

But the hope that Bo-na-parte had held out to 
them came to naueht. The fleet that rode the sea 



Death of Emmet — Hard Times. 135 

in sight of them went off to fight where there was 
call for it, and Ire-land got no help. The I-rish 
Le-gion was sent to the Rhine and from thence to 
Hol-land, where it at least got a chance to fight 
the En-glish, though not for its own rights. 
Thom-as Ad-dis Em-met, when he found there was 
no hope, went to New York and rose there to hold 
the first rank at the bar. Three years had now 
gone by since the Un-ion, and the land was much 
the worse for it. Dub-lin, in the days when it was 
the town where the laws were made, had been a 
fine, brisk town, with row on row of grand homes 
where the men who were in Par-lia-ment dwelt 
while in town. The White House at Washing- 
ton was built to match one of these, the Duke of 
Lein-ster's. A gay life went on in these fine 
homes, and this was good for trade. But with the 
Un-ion a sad change came. The rich men left the 
land to go to Lon-don, and took their wives and 
their young girls with them. The fine homes stood 
with no sign of life in them, and so trade grew dull 
and the debt of the land grew great and brought 
tax on tax to pay it, which yet could not do so. 
The great Doc-tor John-son had said to an I-rish- 
man when there was first talk of the Un-ion, "Do 
not u-nite with us, sir ; we shall rob you." 

His words were but too true. Though the 



136 History of Ireland. 

Un-ion made the two lands the same, and gave Ire- 
land the same rights to make a trade with far lands, 
the right did her no good. She had got it too late. 
En-gland had made her trade ; for long years she 
had brought things that there is great need for from 
far lands, and sent the things that were made 
at home to the lands where there was need of them. 
She had all best the things with which to make the 
goods she sent out, and fine ships to take them. 
Ire-land had none of these things, and what was 
worse, no cash to get them. There was but 
one way for her to get cash too, and that was to 
put a high tax on all things that came in to her 
ports, and thus make them so dear that the folks 
could not buy them, and would have to trust to 
things made in their own land. This would 
make Ire-land sure to have her goods bought, 
and so give those who were in trade good heart 
to go on. But the Un-ion made it a law that 
Ire-land should put no tax on the goods En-gland 
sent to her ports, and so this gave En-gland what 
we call a mar-ket tor her goods in Ire-land, and 
put down all hope of trade there. So it was as if 
a man's foes were to cut off his legs and then give 
him leave to walk. Those of high rank, too, who 
had gone out of Ire-land, took their rents and spent 
them in En-gland. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

DANIEL o'cONNELL. 

When Bo-na-parte got the crown of the French 
put on his head by the Pope, the foes of Ire-land 
tried to raise a great storm to hurt the Cath-o- 
lics. They said that Bo-na-parte would bring all 
his troops and take En-gland, and do all he could 
to hurt the Prot-est-ants. 

Mr. Pitt was once more the chief man in En- 
gland, and so the I-rish Cath-o-lics had kept in their 
hearts the hope that he would grant them the 
rights which they had sought so long. But Pitt 
had no such thought in his heart; he felt not the 
least wish to make them the same in the land as 
the Prot-est-ants round them. 

They met time on time to talk of what was best 
to do to bring this to pass, but in the end they 
found all their talk and all their steps were of no 
use, though they had a band of men of high rank 
to speak for them in Lon-don. Mr. Pitt was most 
kind to these men, and said all sorts of kind words 
for the kind words they said to him, but "No" to 
the boon they sought, though they said that Par-lia- 
ment need not grant it at once, that they would wait 
for a while till he thought the time would be more 



i ',8 



History of Ireland. 



fit. When they found that they could not move 
him from this "No," they went to Charles James 
Fox, a great man in that part of the Par-lia-ment 
known as the Com-mons, where the men sit who are 

not of hisfh rank but 
are sent by the vote 
of the folks of the 
land to speak there 
for them. Fox said 
he would try and see 
what could be done 





DON-E-GAL PLACE, BELFAST. 

for them in his part of 
Par-lia-ment, and one of 
the lords said he would 
speak of it in the House 
of Lords. He did so, 
but did naught but raise 
a storm of hard words. 

In the Com-mons Fox spoke of it, and spoke 
well. Fie said it was more than they should hope 
for that the I-rish Cath-o-lics should try to keep up 
and fight for a Con-sti-tu-tion which could not give 



CAS-TLE PLACE, BEL-FAST. 



Daniel O ' Connell. 



!39 




them their rights. 

The one who next 
got up was a 
foe to the 
Cath-o-lics. 
He said all 



LIN-EN HALL, BEL-FAST. 



sorts of stuff of the 
Cath-o-lic Church. I 
am sure you will 
laugh when you hear 
that he said, if a 
Cath-o-lic swore to 
God, that is, took an 
oath, to do so and so 
or not to do so and 
so, that a priest could 
fix things so as to 
make it no crime for 
him to break his oath 




FAC-TO-RY HANDS. 



if he had the wish to do so; just as if a Cath-o-lic 
held that a priest could make things right or wrong. 



140 History of Ireland. 

Grat-tan then rose and made a great speech for the 
Cath-o-lics. But it was of no use. The Bill was 
put down here as it had been in the House of 
Lords, and its foes were in hopes they had heard 
the last of it for good and all. 

The next year the Duke of Rich-mond was sent 
to Ire-land as Vice-roy. Sir Ar-thur Wel-les-ley, 
who in time beat Na-po-le-on as the Duke of Wel- 
ling-ton was his chief man. Those who bore the 
name of Or-ange-men now held high posts in the 
land, and did not spare the Cath-o-lics. 

But a great man now rose up for the Cath-o-lics. 
His name was Dan-iel O'Con-nell. He was born 
in the same year that saw the A-mer-i-cans take up 
arms to free their land from En-glish rule. Do 
you know which year that is ? He was of the great 
clan of O'Con-nell which had their home on the 
Shan-non in the days of old, ere the En-glish had 
set foot on I-rish ground. Ray-mond, the son-in- 
law of Strong-Bow, drove them from thence to the 
wilds of Ker-ry. The O'Con-nells had clung to 
the old faith all through their line, and so of course 
had been kept from fame and wealth. Dan-iel 
O'Con-nell was sent to a great school in France. 
He saw the sad scenes there when the poor and 
those of low rank rose up to strike down those who 
had ground them to the earth so long, and they 




BORN 1775. 



DAN-IEL O CON-NELL. 



DIED 1847 



142 History of Ireland. 

were scenes of such strife and blood as to make him 
keep all his life from aught that would lead to the 
like scenes in his own land. When he came from 
France to his own land he tried to get a place at 
the bar, but who would trust his case to a young 
man whose faith would be sure to keep him from 
the right of fair play in court? No one, to be 
sure, and so he sat in his room with no case. 
But he had all the more time to learn the things 
in law that it was best for him to know, and 
made him fit to give most help to the poor folks. 
When there was first talk of the Un-ion he put 
it down in a fine speech, but the troops ran 
in ere he was through, and he could say no 
more. 

But he had got known by this time, and the I-rish 
felt that he, at least, was a friend to them and a 
man who would speak well to their foes. At this 
time, in Don-er-aile, a Prot-est-ant had tried to 
hunt out some men that he thought had a wish to 
rise and put down those who had the rule. This 
act, for which he had no cause at all, brought 
down on him the rage of some poor men who 
fought him with arms. He caught one of them, 
who was hung, but the rest got off. Then a man, 
who was of a class that made cash out of such base 
deeds, came to him and told him the names of some 



Daniel O'Connell. 143 

fine men who held good farms in that part of the 
land, as the men who had done the deed. The 
word of this wretch had might to have these poor, 
good men torn from their kin and thrust in jail. 
A great throng told in court how good these men 
were, they swore they knew naught of the crime, 
but all in vain. The twelve men who tried them 
said that, so far as they could see, these men had 
done the deed, and the judge told them they must 
die in six days. Their friends had but one hope, 
and that was in O'Con-nell's aid. He was a long 
way off from there, but a man of the name of Burke 
said he would bring him to the scene. That night 
he took the best horse to be found in Cork and set 
off. He rode hard all night, and at nine o'clock in 
the morn was at Der-ry-nane Ab-bey, where 
O'Con-nell was. He told his tale of woe, and 
at once that great man said he would go and try to 
save the poor men. So wild was his joy that 
O'Con-nell could scarce make Burke rest for a few 
hours ere he set out for home. Scouts had been 
put on his road to learn if it were true that the great 
man would come, and when Burke would call out 
to these " O'Con-nell will come," a wild cheer rose 
in hope and thanks. 

O'Con-nell set off post haste, as he had said he 
would do, and at the time that had been set was 



144 History of Ireland. 

in the court. He had got naught to eat on his 
road, so he got leave to have some food brought to 
him in court, which he ate while the man who was 
for the Crown made a speech to show that the men 
had done the deed. All at once O'Con-nell said, 
with his mouth full: " That's not law." It was 
found to be as he had said, so that was the first 
gain for the poor men. The man for the Crown 
went on with his speech, but O'Con-nell made out 
to trip him up two or three times. At last the man 
lost his wits and spoke of false facts, at which 
O'Con-nell burst in-to a loud laugh. Of course 
you know that a thing to be a fact must be true ; it 
would be no fact else ; so that there can be no such 
thing as a false fact. O'Con-nell then spoke to 
those who had told what was not true, and made 
all see that they had lied. He won the day for the 
men who were tried that day, and they were set free, 
and those who were to have been hung were sent to 
a far land and put in jail there, as a great boon. 
Such deeds as these were sure to gain him the love 
of the I-rish, we may be sure. 

In 1810 O'Con-nell came to the front and led the 
Cath-o-lics. The cry in the land was now for the 
Un-ion to end, and this was known as Re-peal. 
But it was a hard thing to- get it done, for though 
great and wise men have done their best to bring it 



Daniel O' 'Connell. 145 

to pass, the Un-ion is in force in our own day. 
O'Con-nell knew that there was but small hope to 
win in this, so he thought of naught just then but 
how to bring E-man-ci-pa-tion to pass — that is, get 
the Cath-o-lics their rights. 

Just at this time King George III. went out of 
his mind, and the Prince ot Wales got to be Re-gent, 
that is, one who takes charge when the king is not 
fit to have the rule for some cause. The hopes of 
the Cath-o-lics rose high once more, for it was 
the king who could not be brought to grant their 
rights. But their hope was vain. Though the 
prince had said that as soon as he got the rule 
he would do all he could to give the Cath-o-lics 
their rights, he did not keep his word. He broke 
the pledge that he had made the Cath-o-lics, 
through the Duke of Bed-ford, whom he told to 
tell them not to strive to get heard in Par-lia- 
ment, but to leave it to him, their good friend. 
He took for his chief man one Per-ce-val, whose 
cry was "No pop-e-ry," which meant "No rights 
for the Cath-o-lics." 

But O'Con-nell did not draw back. He put 
forth a new sheet, and said such bold, frank things 
in it as to let all friends and foes see that a new 
hand was at work. Soon Rob-ert Peel came to 
Ire-land. He was a wise man, and as Sec-re-ta-ry 



146 History of Ireland. 

of State there, put him-self to learn all he could of 
the land. But this did the land no good. He put 
more men on the po-lice, and these got the name of 
Peel-ers. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

O'CONNELL. 

Up to this time it had been a hard thing to cross 
from Eu-rope to A-mer-i-ca, for it took six weeks to 
do it, as they had naught but sail-ships. But a new 
force which we call steam was put in use on the 
ships and made them go fast. Some met the plan 
with a laugh when there was talk of it, but they 
were in the wrong, as you see, for scores on scores 
of things are now done by steam. 

When the ships went by steam they got to cross 
in a short time. A great throng of I-rish set off 
for the new land, so wide that there was room for 
all, and so free that if folks but kept the rule of the 
land in all things else, they might hold what faith 
they chose. 

George III. had but just been to see Ire-land 
and the I-rish, and though he said a host of fai-r 
words, and wore a bunch of sham-rocks while he 
staid, he did and said naught that bore on E-man- 



O Council. 



H7 



ci-pa-tion. Though with OCon-nell at their head, 
the Cath-o-lics had done all they could to please him 




and gain him to grant their 
rights, he said not a word of 
them when he had got home. 
So they found them-selves once more dupes, for 
hopes had been held out to them that the king 



148 History of Ireland. 

would take some step for their good. At this sad 
part of Ire-land's sad tale, Grat-tan died, and got a 
tomb in West-min-ster Ab-bey. 

It was now made a law that Ire-land should take 
on her the debt of En-gland as well as her own, 
and that En-gland should take on her the I-rish 
debt as well as her own. This was a hard thing 
for Ire-land. The En-glish debt at this time was 
most huge. She had had long wars with the 
U-nit-ed States and France. But both of these 
wars were for things that Ire-land did not wish to 
bring to pass, and so the folks there thought that it 
was too bad for them to have so huge a debt put on 
them for what did them no good, if not harm. In 
some strange way, too, Ire-land's own debt, which 
had been quite small ere the Un-ion, had grown as 
fast as the bean-stalk of Jack the Gi-ant Kil-ler, so 
that now it was a load that kept the I-rish poor 
with tax on tax. But now when they learnt that 
the En-glish debt, far more huge than their own, 
was to be put on them, they lost all hope, for that 
meant there would be no end to the tax. In the 
year 1822, the price of the crops fell. The I-rish 
had but their shorn fields, for the grain had gone 
to En-gland though at a less price, and herds of 
sheep and swine, and cows; when the po-ta-to crop 
was found to be no good, and at once the poor folks 



O'Connell. 149 

felt the want of food. Wrong as were the acts 
which some of the I-rish did at this time, we can 
not feel harsh to them when we think of all they 
had to bear. They saw their grain, and sheep, and 
cows, and swine sent off to that strong, proud land 
from which all their woe had come. There was no 
want of food there, but they had to starve. So 
here and there a group of them would get wild with 
hate, and the thought of their wrongs, and rise up 
and kill the man on whose land they dwelt, or the 
man who was in his place. 

The first thing that En-gland did in this great 
woe was to put in force a new In-sur-rec-tion Act. 
To be sure, the state of the land was as bad as it 
well could be. Some folks dwelt in a state of siege. 
The doors were shut and made fast with great bars 
when night fell, and no one was let in. The Mar- 
quis of Wel-les-ley was Vice-roy this year. He 
dealt with the poor folks in a mild way, and had 
some of the chief men of the Cath-o-lics to dine 
with him at the Cas-tle. Soon the Or-ange-men 
said that he was in league with " O'Connell, the 
Pope, and the Dev-il." Sir Har-court Lees, a 
Prot-est-ant par-son, who was out of his head, made 
out that he had found out plots to slay the Prot- 
est-ants, till he had got these in such a rage that 
one night at the play, a row broke out and things 



15° 



History of Ireland. 



were flung at the Vice-roy as he sat in his box. 
At length what bore the name of the Cath-o-lic 
As-so-ci-a-tion was made up with O'Con-nell and 
Shiel at the head of it. At first, it did not look as if 
it would come to aught, but as time went on, all the 
Cath-o-lic peers and chief men were in their ranks. 

Still a throng of them did 
naught but laugh at it, till 
in the course of the next 
year, when a plan for each 
of the folks to pay a cent 
a month to help it to do 
what it was made for, did 
so well that all saw how 
much the vast mass of the 
folks 
of it. 
name of Cath-o-lic Rent 

And so all these brave 
men went on with their 
great work, and while they did so in Dub-lin, a 
small band of great men in En-gland lent great aid 
with their pens to the cause. One of these, 
Thom-as Moore, was an I-rish-man. He wrote a 
work by name The Two Pen-ny Post Bag, in 
which he made out that the let-ters in it were not 
meant to be known save to the friend to whom thev 




in the land thought 
This sum got the 



MOORE S BIRTH-PLACE. 



O ' Connell. 



151 



had been sent, but that they had been tak-en out of 

the post-bag. They were full of all sorts of bright 

things for the cause. Moore wrote "The I-rish 

Mel-o-dies," too, which have rank 'mid the fine verse 

in our tongue. Up to this time, the grand old airs 

that the bards had drawn from the harps in the 

halls and homes of the 

land in the old proud 

days, when one or two 

harps stood in each house 

so that all who came in 

might play if they knew 

how, had been of no use, 

for the words of some 

were lost, and of those 

that had words but a 

few in some parts of the 

land knew what they 

meant, for the I-rish 

tongue had giv-en place 

to the En-glish. 

Moore took these folk-songs of the I-rish, made 
them in-to smooth, sweet verse, and wed them to the 
grand old airs, and wrote songs for the airs that 
had no words, so that now they can be sung by all 
who speak our tongue. One of them, "The Harp 
that once through Tar-a's Halls," tells of the time 




MOORE. 



152 History of Ireland. 

when the High-king sat at Tar-a, and Ire-land was 
free and great. 

Syd-ney Smith lent his pen to the good work, 
too. He was a great wit, and said bright things 
which made folks laugh so that at times they had 
had to beg him to stop so they might rest. He 
wrote a book which is known as Pe-ter Plym-ley's 
Let-ters, in which he makes out they are from a 
man in town to one of his near kin who lives far out 
of town. Score on score of bright, wise things were 
said by him in these sheets, which no doubt did 
much to bring to pass E-man-ci-pa-tion, and show 
the folks who had such fear of the pope and 
pop-ish plots to kill the Prot-est-ants, that they 
were but geese to have such thoughts. 

In the year 1827 there was a great time in Ire- 
land which was known as the New Ref-or-ma-tion. 
The Prot-est-ants strove to turn the Cath-o-lics from 
their faith and get them to take up the new creed. 
They said the Bi-ble had the true faith, and if the 
Cath-o-lics would put to one side all that was not 
found in the Bi-ble, they would do right. They did 
not say what folks did ere there was a Bi-ble. One 
lord, to show that he thought there was no need of 
more books than it, had all that were in his house 
flung in the lake in his grounds, while he held 
it in his hands. Tracts were giv-en to the poor 



O'Connell. 153 

who had naught to eat, and they were told they 
would have food if they would be of the new creed. 
But they would not give up their faith. 

Round this time the I-rish who had gone to 
A-mer-i-ca got to send cash to those at home. 
Large sums came in-to the land in this way. 

O'Con-nell at length made a great stroke for the 
cause. There was strife in Clare as to who the 
folks there should send to Par-lia-ment. O'Con- 
nell made up his mind to seek their votes and have 
them send him to Par-lia-ment just as if he were 
not a Cath-o-lic. The folks of high rank in Clare 
thought they had those of low rank 'neath their 
rule in all things, but they soon found this was not 
so. The town of En-nis was full when O'Con-nell's 
green coach drove in there, and green flags shook 
in the breeze. There was a great time, but O'Con- 
nell won, and though his foes said that his e-lec-tion 
was of no use, for no Cath-o-lic could sit in Par-lia- 
ment, they who had the might there said it was 
for Par-lia-ment to fix that part of it when he 
should go up to take the oath, ere he took his 
place in it. 

The chief men in En-gland saw they could no 
more keep back their rights from the Cath-o-lics. 
Sir Rob-ert Peel made up his mind that the king 
must yield this point. One wild, last storm rose in 



154 History of Ireland. 

En-gland when the Prot-est-ants found it was to be, 
but that could not keep it back. 

When the time came for Par-lia-ment to sit that 
year, O'Con-nell came up to Lon-don to claim his 
place in it. But when he found that the new Par- 
lia-ment was sure to pass the E-man-ci-pa-tion Bill, 
he made up his mind to wait. The Bill did come 
up and did pass, though the fight was fierce to put 
it down. It now had but to get the name of the 
king on it to make it law, and this it got, though it 
is said that he first broke and trod on one pen that 
was given him for that end. The Cath-o-lics might 
now sit in Par-lia-ment, but no Catholic might be 
Vice-roy of Ire-land, or Lord Chan-cel-lor. 

O'Con-nell now tried to take his seat in the 
House, but his old foe, Peel, had been too strong 
for him. The Bill of E-man-ci-pa-tion said that no 
Cath-o-lic should be sent there till the Bill was law, 
and O'Con-nell had of course been sent ere this 
state of things. So while he thought he should 
have but the new oath to take, to be true to the 
king and the laws, he found that to get his seat he 
would have to take the old oaths, one of which was 
to hold the king as head of the Church, and one 
that the mass was a bad, vile thing. He said he 
would not take such oaths, and when they said 
"Why?" he said that one he did not hold to be 



G Connell. 



J 55 



true, and one he thought to be false. So a writ 



e v-iiJI" 
1 _ ' - 











was put forth to hold a new ejec- 
tion for Clare, and he did not 
get his seat. 

But the work of E-man-ci-pa- 
tion was but half done, and it 
would not have been done at 
all but for fear of war. The 
same Bill which gave Catho- 
lics leave to go to ParJia-ment made it a law that 
all men who held farms or free-holds for which they 



SHANE S CAS-TLE. 



156 History of Ireland. 

had not paid more than for-ty shil-lings, were to 
have a vote no more. This law left scores of those 
who would have done much for O'Con-nell with-out 
votes, and so a great band of them set off to A-mer- 
i-ca, for they would not stay in their own land when 
they could not have a vote. At the next Parlia- 
ment O'Con-nell was once more sent from Clare 
to take his place there. 

But when Par-lia-ment had thus thrown wide its 
doors to Cath-o-lics, one thing, more of harm than 
of good, was done by the act. The place of Judge 
might now be won by them, too, and so the rich, 
who had been to fine schools, got so that they no 
more held the same views as the poor in the land. 
Up to this time they had felt the hard rule of the 
foe just as much as those of low rank, though not 
in the same way ; but now they saw two great roads 
to rank and fame made free to them. So self love 
made their love of their land grow weak, and they 
threw in their lot with En-gland and did her work 
for her. As a judge a Cath-o-lic of this kind would 
sit on the bench and let the ju-ry be made up of 
men who were paid by the En-glish chief men to 
say what they chose to have said. In plain words, 
these Cath-o-lics whom the I-rish sent to Par-lia- 
ment would sell them-selves for cash and rank to 
the foe of their land. When the next Par-lia-ment 



O'Connell. 157 

was to meet O'Con-nell stood for Wa-ter-ford in 
place of Clare. This year the Mar-quis of An-gle- 
sea was sent to Ire-land as Vice-roy. The trades 
of Dub-lin made up to have a grand show to show 
how much they thought of O'Con-nell. The bands 
were to meet at a spot out-side of Dub-lin, and march 
from thence through the town to his house. But 
this show of men, who were to bear no arms, woke 
fear in Lord An-gle-sea's mind, and he would not 
let it take place. From this time on strife was kept 
up by him and O'Con-nell ; the last sought to get 
the folks in a throng, and the first made use of the 
law to keep them from this. O'Con-nell might and 
did use hard words to tell what he thought of the 
Vice-roy, but that did no good, the Vice-roy had 
the might, and made all the use he could of it. 

In the year 1831 the chief men in En-gland built 
na-tion-al schools in Ire-land. Through this plan 
the En-glish meant to make the I-rish boys and 
girls learn to read out of books that would help to 
make them think and learn more of En-gland than 
of their own land. Save for this fault these schools 
were quite good, and were a great boon to the 
Cath-o-lics of the land, who for a long time had 
been kept by law from school. But in parts of the 
land where there were both Prot-est-ant and Cath- 
o-lic boys" and girls, they were not let go to these 



1 5 s History of Ireland. 

schools, as things were taught to the Prot-est-ant 
boys and girls which were not right for Cath-o-lics 
to hear. Where they were all Cath-o-lics this was 
not the case, of course. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

O'CONNELL FAILS TO GET REPEAL. 

The next bad time in Ire-land was brought on 
by the tithes. These, as you no doubt know, are a 
tax which the folks pay to keep up the Church. 
But the I-rish had to pay them to aid a Church for 
which they had naught but hate. So when the 
Par-son sought to get his tithes from the Cath-o-lics, 
they would not pay them, here and there in the 
land, and so there was a row, and some were slain. 
This was known as the tithe war, and was at its 
worst in the south. 

The foes of Ire-land, as was their wont, made out 
that the tithe war was but a part of a Pop-ish plot, 
so parts of the land had what is known as the Co-er- 
cion Act put in force. This means that those who 
had the rule in Ire-land might keep the folks by 
force from all acts that they thought were not right. 
If a throne of folks met to hear some man make a 
speech, the Vice-roy, by this Act, could make them 



O'Connell Fails to Get Repeal. 



159 



go home at once, 
and they were not 
to meet, if they had 
not told the Vice- 
roy ten days ere 
they were to do so. 
The Act made more 
hard rules, so hard, 
in truth, that those 




SLI-GO AB-BEY. 



who made it said 
they had hopes that 
the need of it would 
be short in the land. 
O'Con-nell now 
sought with all his 
might to bring Re- 
peal to pass. But 
Par-lia-ment said no 
to the Bill he 



160 History of Ireland. 

brought to this end. At length King Wil-liam died 
and Vic-to-ri-a came to the throne. In the first 
three years of her reign, three great laws were 
made for Ire-land." The first of these was the 
Poor Law. In the old days of En-gland, ere the 
time of Hen-ry the Eighth and the new creed, 
the poor in the land were the care of the monks 
and nuns in the great ab-beys and con-vents. But 
when that King swept them out of their homes, 
and took the gold, with which they had done 
so much good, for him-self, there were none 
left to take care of the poor. Poor laws had 
to be made, and then a poor-house was built in 
each part of the land. I have told you how the 
great debt that had been put on Ire-land, and which 
made tax on tax there, made her poor, so that there 
was now a throng of poor folks there. The chief 
men of En-gland made a law to put a poor law in 
force, and build a poor-house in each part of the 
land there too. And it was done, and from that 
time, those who get too poor to keep them-selves, 
have to go to the poor-house, though they hate it. 

The next great law was the Tithe Law. A tithe, 
as you know,. I dare say, is a tenth part of each 
thing. So the poor I-rish-man had to give each 
tenth po-ta-to, and each tenth sheaf of grain to keep 
the rec-tor of a church that he did hold not to be 



O' Council Fails to Get Repeal. 161 

true. But at this time the tithes got the name of 
the tithe rent charge. By this new law, the land- 
lord has to pay the rec-tor first, and then get what 
he had paid from those who paid him rent. It 
was the same thing but with a new name. 

The third great law was Re-form in the Rule of 
Towns. Though the Cath-o-lics had got the right 
to have a share in the rule of towns, but few of 
them, so far, had got it. But now the new law 
gave those who dwelt in each town the right to 
choose those who should have the rule in it. At 
once O'Con-nell was made Lord May-orof Dub-lin. 

At this time a great and good man, Fath-er Mat- 
thew, sought to get the folks to take a pledge to 
touch no drink that could make them drunk. He 
did more good by this work than we can tell of. 
Great throngs came to hear when he went to each 
town to tell of the vile deeds wrought by drink, the 
sad homes that it makes, and to beg of the folks to 
pledge their word not to touch it. In ten years 
more than five mil-lions took this pledge, so that 
when we think of all the good he did, we must 
count him in with the best men that have been on 
the earth. 

O'Con-nell now made up his mind to gain Re- 
peal by this plan. Vast throngs of the iolks were 
to meet and talk of their wish to have it so, and 



l62 



History of Ireland. 




then trust to the hope that the cnief men in En- 
gland would think it best to grant what the folks 
had so firm a wish for. The poor I-rish were now 

the worst fed, wore the worst 
clothes, and dwelt in the worst 
houses of all the poor in Eu-rope. 
Yet vast sums of rent were tak-en 
out of the land and spent where 
it did them no good, so you may 
guess that their wish was most deep 
to have Re-peal. O'Con-nell now 
went through the land and spoke 
to the vast thrones who came to 
meet him. They gave him the 
name of Lib-er-a-tor. The folks met in peace, and 
gave no cause for the Queen's troops, though they 
came to the scene each time, to use force. Though 
his voice was most strong, the throng 
was so vast that a great part could 
not hear it. 

But when the En-glish saw all this, 
they at once made a law to put an end 
to it. Threats were put forth that 
the Co-er-cion Act would be put in 
force once more, and the Arms Bill, 
which said that I-rish should not bear arms, was 
put in force, and a great throng of troops sent to 



JOHN MITCH-EL. 




DAV-IS. 



O Council Fails to Get Repeal 163 

Ire-land. But to shed blood was no part of O'Con- 
nell's plan. He said that one drop of blood was 
too great a price to pay for the most choice boon on 
earth. But a band of young men who sought the 




r^^^s^^t^. 



ARI-GAL MOUN-TAIN, DON-E-GAL. 



same great thing as O'Con-nell, thought the best 
way to get it was to fight for it. The chiefs 
of this host were John Mitch-el, Thom-as Dav-is 
and Charles Gav-an Duf-fy. Still some thought 



164 History of Ireland. 

that if it were to come to the worst, O'Con-nell 
would fight. A huge throng met to hear his speech 
at Tar-a. The hill of Tar-a, once the home of the 
High Kings of the land, is on the great plain of 
Meath, not far from the Boyne, and in the midst 
of rich farm lands. On the day set for the speech, 
great throngs came from all parts to it. The path 
of O'Con-nell had arch on arch built on it, and 
shouts of joy rose from each small town through 
which his coach drove, to greet him. His next 
great speech was made at Mul-lagh-mast in Kil-dare. 
Clad in his red cloak, as one of the chief men of 
Dub-lin, he took his seat while the vast throng was 
as still as death. Then a rich cap, made like the 
crown of Ire-land in her free days, was put on his 
head, while he who did it said words, the sense of 
which was, that his wish would have been to have 
it of gold. Then a great roar of love and praise 
for him who had done so much for them went up 
from all the throng. 

The great next speech was to be at Clon-tarf, the 
place where the Danes were beat in the great fight. 
But late in the day ere it was to be, word was put 
up on the walls of Dub-lin for the folks not to meet. 
So they did as they were bid, but in a week O'Con- 
nell was tried and put in jail for his work, but was 
let out in three months. But he was now an old 



O' Council Fails to Get Repeal. 165 

man, and his health was not good. Great woe too 
came on the land at this time. Blight fell on the 
po-ta-to crop and this made folk in the land soon 
feel the want of food. This fierce scourge was felt 
by the I-rish for two years. This, too, while they 
saw the En-glish ships sail out of their ports full of 
grain and beef that should have kept them, but the 
taste of which they were too poor to know, for they 
had to raise these things and sell them to make their 
rent. From far lands help was sent to them, yet 
in spite of this a vast throng of them died for want 
of food. At the end of this hard time, great bands 
left Ire-land for A-mer-i-ca. 

In the same year O'Con-nell, old, sick, and with 
a sore heart, left his land for It-a-ly. All his proud 
hopes had come to naught ; the land that was so 
dear to him, and the folks to whom he was so dear, 
were not free. To the last he strove to help the poor 
who were in want of food. His plan was to go to 
Rome and see the pope, but when he got as far as 
Gen-o-a he died. He has a fine tomb at Glas- 
nev-in, in his own land, but his heart lies at Rome. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

SMITH O'BRIEN AND HIS MEN. 

Lord Clar-en-don was now made Vice-roy. The 
crops had once more grown and were good, and a 
band of men had made up their minds not to let 
them go out of the land when there was so much 
need of them. This was a rash thing to try to do, 
no doubt, but these brave men thought that they 

could but die once, and it was as 
well to do so by shot from the 
guns of the foe, as to starve. So 
mobs in Clare met the grain on 
its way to the sea, and kept it 
back. At once Par-lia-ment met 
in En-gland and a new Co-er- 
jj cion Act was put in force. But 
the I-rish were not put down by 
fear of this. Their wrongs were 
too great, and so in all the 
towns young men got guns, or, if they could not 
pay for guns, pikes. The chief men in En-gland 
took fright and sent a larre force to Ire-land. Dub- 
lin was full of troops, and great guns were put in 
the Bank of Ire-land, which was once the House of 
Par-lia-ment, and the vast and grand Cus-tom House 




Smith O'Brien and his Men. 



167 



was the home of the troops. Smith O'Bri-en was 
at the head of all this. He was told that he would 




DON-E-GAL CAS-TLE. 



be tried for his work, but he did not care. He 
went to France to seek aid, and when he came back 



1 68 



History of Ireland. 



he went to En-gland and told the Par-lia-ment that 
he had told the men of his race to arm and fight 
for their right to live on their own soil. Fierce yells 
of hate rose when he said this, but he went on to 
say that he thought he had done naught but what 
was right. He and Thom-as Fran-cis Mea-gher 
were tried, but were let go free. 

But the fierce scourge of want of food was felt once 
more. So the poor, made wild 
by their woe, rose up. Though 
they had but one blow to strike 
they felt that the time had come 
to strike it. They were brought 
to this state of mind by Smith 
O'Bri-en and Rich-ard O'Gor- 
man, and some more. It was a 
rash act and came to naught, and 
O'Bri-en and all the chief men 
who took part in the work were 
put in jail and tried and told that they must die, but 
were not put to death. They met a worse fate, for 
they were sent to Van Die-man's land for ten years. 
Most of these men then went to A-mer-i-ca and got 
to be well known and great in that land. 

The year 1848 saw too, the Dub-lin Cath-o-lic 
U-ni-ver-si-ty set up in that town, and a wise En- 
glish-man, who had once been a Prot-est-ant, but 




FRAN-CIS MEA-GHER. 



Smith O'Brien and his Men. 



169 



had gone back to the old faith, went to Dub-lin to 
be at the head of it. 

For the next ten years the folks went out of the 
land to A-mer-i-ca in great bands. From there 
they sent back large sums to aid those who were 
at home. 

In the year 1850, the I-rish Ten-ant League was 
made up. Those 
who took part in it 
sought to help 
those who dwelt on 
farms. For if the 
land-lord was a 
hard man, who had 
no thought of those 
who dwelt on his 
lands, save how to 
squeeze large sums 
of rent out of them, 
these poor men t 
were sure to meet 
with hard times. 
So those who made up this new League strove with 
all their might to get men sent to Par-lia-ment by the 
folks, who would speak up, and get a law made to 
fix things by a just rule, which the land-lord should 
not break. But a new set of men sprang up too at 




FA-THER MAT-HEW. 



1 70 History of Ireland. 

this time, who spoke a great deal of their love for 
the Cath-o-lic Church. This plan made the priests 
think that they were good, wise men, whose plan it 
would be well to take up. Such a time did these 
men make in Par-lia-ment, for the Church, that they 
got the name there of the Pope's Brass Band. At 
heart they were not good men at all, and did not 
mean in the least what they said to gain votes. 
The head of this band was Mr. John Sad-lier, 
who had been sent to Par-lia-ment by the folks 
of Car-low, and Wil-liam Ke-ogh, who went from 
Ath-lone. The head men of the Ten-ant League 
were Mr. Lu-cas, John Fran-cis Ma-guire, and 
Dr. Gray. These three men strove hard to make 
Prot-est-ants and Cath-o-lics think the same as 
far as the League went. But the Sad-lier men 
tried hard to keep them from this, and so well did 
they play their part, that the most wise and chief 
men in the Church put their trust in them. But 
when the time came for the folks to vote in each 
part of the land for the men they should send to 
Par-lia-ment, the men of the Ten-ant League got 
the most votes. But Sad-lier and some of his kin, 
and Ke-ogh too, got in. 

When the new Par-lia-ment sat, Lord Der-by 
was chief man in En-gland ; but was so but for a 
month, for some deed of his did not gain the votes 



Smith O ' Brien and his Men. 



171 



he thought it would, and so he had to give up his 
post to Lord Ab-er-deen. As it was the weight of 
the I-rish votes which brought this state of things 
to pass, the friends of Ire-land were full of hope, 
for now, they thought, here was a fine chance for 
the I-rish to make up a plan to give their votes to 
the chief man, who would fix things best for their 
own land. But though day by day the I-rish rose 
up full of hope that these men 
would act well by them, it was 
dire news that came at last. Sad- « 
lier was not a true Celt. He was 
of En-glish blood, and had but 
small love in his heart for Ire- 
land or her race. He sold his 
vote to Lord Ab-er-deen, who at 
once made him Lord of the Treas- 
ury. Ke-ogh did the same and 
got a high post too. 

This was a sad blow to the I-rish who had borne 
so much to send these men to Par-lia-ment. They 
lost all heart, and for some years did not strive for 
their rights in the least. Her foes said she was 
well off and at peace. As for the two men who 
had done the land this foul wrong, one of them, Ke- 
ogh, brought death on by drink, and John Sad-lier 
met a worse fate. He was a bright, smart man, 




T. B. MC MAN-US. 



172 History of Ireland. 

and he made up grand schemes to make folks rich 
who would give him cash to work them out. But 
all the while, though he led a gay, fine life, with no 
care, he was, in truth, at his wits' ends to know 
how to get on. You know that it is a great crime 
for one to sign a name that is not his own to 
a draft or check, save when he who bears the name 
gives him leave to do so. John Sad-lier did scores 
of bad acts such as this. But all his fraud and bad 
acts could not keep him up. When he found this 
out he went out-side of Lon-don, to a green spot, 
where he lay down as if to sleep, but first took a 
drink of strong, bad stuff that brought death to him 
at once. The next morn the folks who were the 
first to pass by the spot found him dead. But 
hard times came on the land. The Tip-pe-rar-y 
Bank shut its doors, and all the poor folks who 
had put their cash in it lost it all, and great bands 
of them were brought down to dire w r ant. 

When, in i860, great bands of men in It-a-ly 
strove to put down the Pope, and take the land o'er 
which he had up to this time kept rule, throngs of 
the I-rish went to fight for him, and gave large 
sums to help him. The I-rish fought well and won 
much praise, as well from the foe as from those 
who led on their side. When the war came to 
an end and the Pa-pal Zou-aves [Zwaves] went 



Smith O'Brien and his Men, 



/ 3 



home, the land was a scene of joy. At each town 
bands , of the folks came out to greet them, with 
fla^s and green boughs. 

When the war of the North and South broke 




RU-INS NEAR RATH-MUL-LEN, DON-E-GAL. 



DUN-LACE CAS-TLE. 



out in the U-ni-ted States, brave bands of I-rish 
fought for the North. Some of these bore the 
green flag with the gold harp on it, the flag of their 
own land, with the red, white and blue of the 



i 74 History of Ireland. 

States. The chief of these bands were Mea- 
gher's I-rish Brig-ade and the Cor-cor-an Le-gion. 
En-gland's hopes were with the South. When 
the war came to an end some of the I-rish who 
had fought in it put in their lot with a band that 
had been made up in the last few years in Ire- 
land, and bore the name of the Fe-ni-ans. With 
them they made up a plan to free Ire-land, but ere 
the time that was set to rise their head man was 
put in jail. But he got out through the craft of 
his friends, and there was a great time when his 
foes found that he had done so. But ere his plans 
were ripe, all the I-rish-men who had fought in the 
war of the States, and were in Dub-lin, were put 
in jail. They were kept there but a short time, 
just to let the plans they had made come to 
naught. 

In a few years, the I-rish in A-mer-i-ca tried once 
more. They sent a ship which bore the name of 
"E-rin's Hope" with men and arms to Ire-land. 
But as soon as she got there, the men she bore 
were put in jail. When the po-lice sought to take 
two of these men in Man-ches-ter there was a row, 
and one of them was slain. Five men were put in 
jail for the deed, and though it was thought by 
most folks that no one had meant to kill the man, 
still three of the five were hung. They died like 



Smith O'Brien and his Men. 175 

brave men, and got the name of the Man-ches-ter 
Mar-tyrs. 

The Pope at this time sent the red hat to 
Arch-bish-op Cul-len of Dub-lin. This was Ire- 
land's first Car-di-nal. He was a wise and good 
man, but he did not like the Fe-ni-ans, nor did he 
think that their work was good for the land. He 
did much for the Church and for his land. 

The next thing of note was for the En-glish Par- 
lia-ment to pass a law to make the Prot-est-ant 
Church in Ire-land no more the State Church. 
This was a creat boon to the I-rish and rave them 
great joy. There was an end to tithes in all forms, 
for they had no more to keep a Church for which 
they had naught but scorn. But no boon could 
keep the I-rish from thoughts and plans of how to 
break the Un-ion. A new set of men sprang up 
whose aim was this, but to which they gave the new 
name of Home Rule. Mr. Glad-stone, who was 
now chief man in En-gland, tried at this time, too, 
to do some-thing for the I-rish, and brought the 
Land Bill in-to Par-lia-ment. 

The soil of Ire-land was in the grasp of a small 
set of land-lords. They were, for the most part, 
hard on the men who dwelt on their lands, and 
none of these tried to do aught to fix up his home 
or his land, for if he did he at once found a raise in 



1 76 History of Ireland. 

the rent, which he had to pay, or turn out, for the 
need of land was so great, that the land-lords could 
get the price they set. Their foes say that the I-rish 
hate to work, but I think that they have shown, 
where they had a fair chance, that this charge is false. 
Put a man of what race you choose in a place 
like Ire-land, where the law gives him no right to 
the fruit of his hard work, and I am sure you will 
find that he would have done the same. He might 
sow but he was not let reap. So hard were the 
laws on him in his own land, that deer stood in the 
fields, and birds sat on the trees, with no fear of 
man, for though his wife and boys and girls were to 
die for want of food, he dare not shoot them. How 
to make the rent was his sole thought, and in this 
hard life, the light of hope had no birth in his 
heart, he but strove to live day by day. 

Mr. Glad-stone sought to bring to pass a Re-form 
in this. The Land Bill was made law, but the 
land-lords found means to make it of small good. 
So fierce, bad acts were done by the I-rish in 
some parts of the land to the land-lords and the 
crops. 

The cry for Home Rule grew loud and strong 
at this time, and the folks sent a band of men to 
Par-lia-ment who were strong for Home Rule, and 
so £ot the name of Home Rul-ers. For four 



Parnell and his Men. 177 

years these men strove, led by Mr. Butt, to do 
some thing for their land, but with small good. 
At length the man who had been the choice of 
the folks in Meath died, and one whom they took 
in his place bore the name, now so well known 
to the world, of Charles Stew-art Par-nell. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

PARNELL AND HIS MEN. 

Mr. Par-nell sprang from a race which has 
long been dear to the I-rish, for the men of it 
stood up for the right and for their own land 
through all the years when her foes sought most 
to crush her. He was born at Avon-dale, in En- 
gland, and brought up in that land. His moth-er 
is an A-mer-i-can. He was quite a young man 
when he was sent to Par-lia-ment, and was at first 
still and shy there, but soon made speech on 
speech, and strove with all his might for Home 
Rule. He got to be the chief of the small band of 
Home Rubers. They woke rage in En-gland, 
but shouts of joy went up from the I-rish shore 
at each good point they made. 

But once more on that poor land came the scourge 



i 78 History of Ireland. 

of want of food. The crops came to no good for 
two years, and yet the land-lords had to have the 
rents all the same. The folks woke up to the hard 
truth that if the next crop were to fail they must 
die for want of food. Their lives hung on it, and 
they saw it fail. The black, hard days of want 
came on them once more. The Home Rule men 
sought to get Par-lia-ment, which was soon to break 
up, to do some thing for the I-rish, but met with 
naught but a laugh. 

Some time ere this a man of the name of Mi- 
chael Dav-itt had made up a scheme to have no 
land-lords, and let each man in the land own his 
farm. Dav-itt's words had much weight, for he 
knew well the state ol things of which he spoke. 
He was born in a low rank of life, and was the son 
of a man who, in one of the dread years that brought 
want of food to the land, was put out of his home 
by a hard land-lord, and went with his wife and 
boys and girls to dwell in En-gland. He made his 
home in a part of that land where the great mills 
give work to great bands of boys and girls. Dav- 
itt was soon in the ranks of these, and kept at his 
work in the mill till one day a great wheel caught 
his arm and hurt it so that he could make no use of 
it to do the least thing. But he read a great deal, 
and kept bright the flame of hate gainst those who 



Parnell and his Men. 



179 



had wrought the wrongs of his land, and so when 
he got to be a man he brought forth this scheme, 
the fruit of his long thought, and sought to get 
bright men to take it up, too. He was first to hold 
the views of the Fe-ni-ans. But in 1870 he was 




ST. FIN-BAIS CA-THE-DRAL, CORK. 



put in jail on a charge that the Fe-ni-ans had 
kept him to get arms for them. He was tried 
and sent to jail for a long term of years. But 
when he had done most half of this term he was 
let out, and when he got to Dub-lin he went in heart 
and soul to win his land's rights for her, and, as I 



180 History of Ireland. 

have said, thought the Land League was the best 
means by which to do this. 

Up to this time the Home Rule men had had 
naught to do with the Land League scheme, for 
they thought the best thing to fight for was the Par- 
lia-ment, and when once they had got that it could 
deal with the needs of those who dwelt on farms, 
and do the best thing for land-lords and all. But 
when Par-nell found out that the Par-lia-ment meant 
to take no act to save or help the poor, or ward off 
the black woe that now was most at their doors, he 
and his men made up their minds to take up Dav- 
itt's plan. Those who dwelt on farms were in truth 
in a sad plight. They were deep in debt to the 
seeds-men, to the banks, and to the men who sell 
that black stuff which the soil needs to make it 
rich, so that it may bring forth fine crops. Yet they 
saw they must get more in debt, or get means in 
some way to put in the crops for the next year and 
make out, too, to tide through the days till they 
should bend ripe in the fields. 

So when Par-nell made up his mind to cast his 
lot in with the Land League scheme, he at once 
set off for Ire-land to join Dav-itt. In June, at 
West-port, Par-nell spoke to a vast throng, and 
said these words, which meant and did so much : 
" Keep a firm grip of your home-steads." 



Parnell and his Men. 



ISI 



In a few months the I-rish Na-tion-al Land 
League was put in force, which no doubt has done 
more for the land than all the rest of the plans made 
for her good. But the worst had come on her. 
The Land League had to turn in-to a Re-lief band. 
In a few months Par-nell set sail for A-mer-i-ca. 
He was met with joy. He went from State to 
State and from town to town to tell the tale of his 
land, and seek aid to get food for the folks, and to 
help the Land League. The U-ni-ted States Con- 
gress let him make a speech to it on the case of Ire- 
land. This was a great and rare thing, which since 
the days of Wash-ing-ton but one man had done. 

The want of food was felt most in Ire-land in 
Con-ne-mar-a. There the young and old died in 
throngs, yet all the while the land-lords had men to 
take the folks' few poor clothes, and the things in 
their homes for rent, and give them word to quit 
the poor huts that held them. Such acts as these, 
of course, were the cause of blood-shed. Still the 
want grew more, and but for the great aid that came 
from A-mer-i-ca few would have been left with life 
in the land. 

The Duke of Marl-bor-ough was Vice-roy at the 
time. The Duch-ess, his wife, at length got up a 
Re-lief band. One was got up, too, by the Lord 
May-or of Dub-lin, and a third by the Land 



1 82 History of Ireland. 

League. Of these, the Lord May-or's did the most 
work, though all gave great aid, still, as it was, death 
and the plague made a grim score inthe land. 

In 1880, Mr. Glad-stone got to be the chief man 
in En-gland once more. Up to this time he had 
been so good a friend to the I-rish that they heard 
the news with joy. The state of the land was now 
as bad as bad could be. 

More and more did the men who were now the 
guides of the folks, tell them that the land-lords 
should be left with-out their rents ere they should 
starve. At length the men made a league to pay 
no more rack-rent, that is, a sum ot rent as great as 
the whole worth of the farm, but just such rent as 
they could, and keep them-selves from want. This 
plan their foes tried to crush. They gave word to 
quit their homes to great bands of men. But 
when they did this, they found that no one would 
take the farms, nor work them, nor till them, so 
that they got to be waste on their hands. Some 
land-lords gave in, and took in good part the fail- 
rents that were held out to them, but more kept up 
the feud and got troops to drive out those who 
dwelt on their lands. But as soon as the troops 
would have gone on to the next place where there 
was a call for them, the men would go back to their 
homes, so that soon the land-lords were at their 



Parnell and his Men. 



183 



wits' ends, and what was worse, some were shot. 
One land-lord in May-o, Lord Erne, had a man, 
whose name was Boy-cott, to take care of his lands. 
Cap-tain Boy-cott was a brave man, and he told 
those on Lord Erne's land to do their worst, he 
would do what he thought was right, all the same. 
He got a strong guard of po-lice to go round with 
him. But no one would work for him. Those 
who did the work in his house went off, and those 
who kept the shops in the town 
near by, would not sell to him. 
This was a queer state of things. 
The crops on the land he took 
care of were ripe, and must be cut. 
What does he do? He seeks 
aid, and a large band of Or-ange- 
men say they will come from the 
North, and cut and store his 
crops. Boy-cott grants what they 
ask for this and they come. But 
how ? Like a force who come to kill, not in the 
least like a band of men who come to cut the wide 
fields of rich, ripe grain that nods in the soft breeze. 
They are in the midst of rows of troops whose 
bright arms shine as they form a steel hedge round 
them, while the loud tramp of their steeds' hoofs 
tells how strong a guard they are. 




JOHN MAR-TIN. 



184 History of Ireland. 

The Or-ange-men go to work. The men who 
have been put off their lands give loud hoots of 
scorn while they cut the grain, but do no more. 
The troops and those that they had to guard could 
not buy a crumb of food, and all they ate had to be 
sent to them from Dub-lin, so that it cost Lord 
Erne more than the crop was worth to cut and store 
it. So that when a land-lord or his head man got 
in such a plight he was said to be Boy-cot-ted. 

The Land League had now spread through all 
the land. Huge sums were sent from A-mer-i-ca 
to swell its funds, most of which were spent to keep 
those who had been put out of their homes. It 
was thought Glad-stone would bring in some Bill 
to help things. In truth he did bring one to give 
those who were put out a right to sue for the things 
they had done to fix up their homes. But the 
House of Lords would not pass this Bill. Those 
who had not been for the scheme of no land-lords, ere 
this, now went in with those of the Land League. 
Three parts of Ire-land chose Par-nell to send to 
the next Par-lia-ment. Out of these three he chose 
Cork. The chief men were all of his mind. Their 
plan was to stand up for their rights gainst the land- 
lords ; to do them no harm, but not to give in one 
inch to them. 

The Chief Sec-re-ta-ry of Ire-land at this time 




» | l a, . 



QUEEN VIC-TO-RI-A. 



1 86 History of Ire/and. 

was Mr. Fors-ter. At first he had been great for the 
rights of the I-rish, but this war with the land-lords 
made him turn in-to a foe. In the fall, it got to be 
known that those who had the rule in En-gland meant 
to try Par-nell and his chief men at the bar for their 
work. It was true; the next month they were tried 
for their late acts, to which their foes gave hard names. 

Ere the end of this had come, Par-lia-ment met. 
The first news that met Par-nell and his friends was 
that the Co-er-cion Act was to be put in force in 
Ire-land to break up the Land League, and then 
there would be talk of Land Re-form. 

The Land League men fought the Co-er-cion Act 
inch by inch but to no use. It was made law and 
put in force in Ire-land, and then Glad-stone 
brought in his Land Bill. 

This Bill, though it did much for the rights of 
the I-rish, fell far short of their hopes; but still it 
would have been met with joy and done much to 
bring peace to both land-lords and those who held 
lands from them, if it had not been for the Co-er- 
cion Act. This made all things seem dark. The 
Land Bill was made law. The land-lords in their 
rage made up their minds to drive off their lands 
all those that they had sent word to quit, ere it 
had been made law. Fierce scenes of strife and 
blood took place when they tried to do this. 



Parnell and his Men. 187 

Mr. Fors-ter now took a stern course, in which 
he made Mr. Glad-stone back him. By means of 
the Co-er-cion Act he soon had the jails full. 
Par-nell and a small band of his chief men were 
put in Kil-main-ham jail. 

At this the state of the land grew from bad to 
worse. The poor men grew mad with rage 'neath 
the stern rule of Fors-ter. A net-work of crime 
spread through the land. 

At last Glad-stone got to see that he had done 
wrong, that the Co-er-cion Act was not wise. Mr. 
Fors-ter was sent for to go home to En-gland, 
the jail doors were thrown wide for Par-nell and 
his men to eo free. The Co-er-cion Act was no 
more in force, and the I-rish were told that a new 
and mild rule was to take its place. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A DEED OF BLOOD. HARD TIMES ONCE MORE. 

To cap this fine news, word was spread through 
the land that the Land Act was to be made of more 
good to the folks, and that the men were to own 
their farms. The light of hope now shone in Ire- 
land ; hearts there grew light at the thought that 
at last some thing sure was to be done for their woe. 
But bad men were soon to crush this hope. Lord 
Fred-er-ick Cav-en-dish, a bright young man, whose 
scope of thought was wide and who had won much 
love in his own land, was sent to take Fors-ter's place. 
One night in May, while he went through Phoe-nix 
Park, in Dub-lin, with Mr. Burke, who held the 
post next to him, four men drove up to them on a 
jaunt-ing car, set on them with knives and slew 
them. This foul deed took place in view of the 
home of the Vice-roy, but those who did it got off. 

The sad news flew through the land, and deep 
grief was felt. But none could tell why it had been 
done. Some said that Lord Cav-en-dish had been 
tak-en for Burke, as he had been but one day in 
Ire-land when he was slain. Burke had been with 
Fors-ter, and so had drawn the hate of the I-rish 
on him. 



A Deed of Blood. Hard Times Once More. 



189 



But the truth was soon found out. The vile 
deed was the work of the In-vin-ci-bles. These 
were a band who had made up to seek the rights of the 
folks by force. But one of them, Ca-rey by name, 
had the 
hope held 
out to him 
that his 
life would 
be left him 
if he told 
all that he 
knew of 
the crime. 
He had 
been one 
of the 
worst of 
those in 
his search 
and plans 
of how to 
do the 
deed, yet 

now his word brought the doom of death on the 
rest of the band. A year and a few days had gone 
by since the deed was done, when the first of these 




ROSS CAS-TLE, KIL-LAR-NEY. 



i go History of Ireland. 

rash, wild men who had done naught save bring 
fresh woe on the land, was hung. Four more were 
soon hung too, and three more were put in jail 
for life. 

What was now to be done with Ca-rey? Ire- 
land he dare not, nor, in truth, could not live in, 
for none there would touch his hand or his coin, or 
have aught to do with him. 

So the chief men put him on board the Kinn- 
faults Castle, a ship bound for Cape Town, which 
was thought to be a safe place for him, as there were 
but few I-rish there. But this plan came to naught. 
The ship which took him out took a man whose 
name was O'Don-nell. The ship made her port. 
Ca-rey was quite near his new home, when O'Don- 
nell shot and slew him. He was brought back to 
En-gland, tried there and hung. 

The I-rish, both at home and in A-mer-i-ca, felt 
naught but grief at the deed of blood done by the 
In-vin-ci-bles, which had dealt death to one who 
came to bring peace. A few days since a stat-ue 
of Lord Fred-er-ick Cav-en-dish was set in view in 
the Town Hall Square, at Bar-row-in-Fur-ness. A 
vast throng stood to see the veil that had shut it 
from sight up to that time tak-en off. 

His death brought dark days once more to Ire- 
land. The Co-er-cion law was once more put in 



A Deed of Blood. Hard Times Once More. 1 9 1 

force, and this time that law was made more stern 
than the ones that had been in force up to that 
time. The death of Miss Fan-ny Par-nell, which 
took place in the same year, was the cause of much 
grief to the I-rish folks as well as to her own kin. 
She had done much for them, with word and pen, 
and when the head men of the Land League were 
put in jail, Miss An-na Par-nell and she strove to 
keep up the war for Ire-land's rights by means of 
a La-dies' Land League. The next thino- of note 
that took place in Ire-land was the great fair 
which was held in Dub-lin in the same year. Its 
doors were thrown open in Au-gust. All the 
funds for the cost of it had been sent by the poor 
folks, and those who were not of high rank. It 
was their work, and they sought and took no aid 
from those of great rank. All the things that can 
be made in Ire-land were shown in the stalls, and 
it was a glad sight for those who love that land 
and long to see her race grow rich and great in 
peace. But vast throngs came to Dub-lin on the 
first day of the fair for more than to see it. They 
came to see the veil tak-en off the great stat-ue of 
O'Con-nell, which was wrought by an I-rish-man, 
whose name is Fo-ley. It stands on the best street 
in Dub-lin, Sack-ville street, near a bridge, which 
had been made wide and fine and given the name 



192 History of Ireland. 

of O'Con-nell Bridge. This bridge led from the 
north to the south part ot the town, and up to this 
time had borne the name of Car-lisle Bridge. When 
the time came, and Mr. Daw-son, the Lord May-or of 
Dub-lin, took off the veil and the form of the grand old 
man was seen high up in the air, a great long shout 
of joy went up from the throats of the vast throng. 
Though he did not do all that he tried to do, he 
still did great things for them, so that the I-rish 
race will love O'Con-nell for all time to come. 

Great bands of folks went to see the fair, all the 
time while it was kept up. From all that was 
shown there, there is ground to hope that when the 
land shall have got back her own Par-lia-ment, the 
hum of work shall be heard in all parts of the land, 
and the wheel and the loom no more stand still. 

If you leave Ho-ly-head, En-gland, to go to Ire- 
land, you must put your watch back most half an 
hour to make it £et ri^ht with the time in Ire-lancl. 
In front of Trin-i-ty Col-lege, Dub-lin, you will see 
the forms in stone of Burke and Gold-smith, and on 
the green, in front of the House of Par-lia-ment, 
where his voice rang out for the rights of his land, 
stands Grat-tan with his hand flung in air. Smith 
O'Bri-en's form in stone, and Tom Moore's, too, 
have a place near the Lif-fey, the stream which flows 
through the town. 



A Deed of Blood. Hard Times Once More. 193 

King Wil-liam the Third has a place, too, in on 
the green in front of the Col-lege. Wil-liam was, 
as you know, the Prince of Or-ange, who won the 
great fight at the Boyne. When he came to the 
throne, James fled to France to die there, a king 
with-out a crown, and those whose hearts still felt 
love for him and his son got the name of Ja-cob-ites. 
Well, the Col-lege held each year a band of Ja-cob-ite 
young men, who were sure to play some wild pranks 
on the poor King. Some-times the gray of the 
morn would show the lead King on his lead horse 
made in-to a strange sight with hay, and with a 
man of straw limp on his back. So things went on 
till at last one night in the year 1836 a strange light 
was seen near where he sat on his lead horse, and 
soon a loud sound was heard and the king flew high 
in air and then fell back on the ground. But he was 
not hurt much by this last Ja-cob-ite freak, and skill 
was brought to bear on his wounds that soon made 
him fine as he was ere his fall. Swift has no stat-ue 
in Dub-lin, but some have said that he needs none, 
for that the whole town is his mon-u-ment. But 
you may see his tomb if you go to the Prot-est- 
ant Ca-the-dral of St. Pat-rick. 

Christ Church is the Cath-o-lic Ca-the-dral. 
Here the great St. Law-rence O'Toole said 
mass in the days that are now so far in the past, 



194 History of Ireland. 

and here Lam-bert Sim-nel had the crown put on 
his head. 

Dub-lin is not a true I-rish town. Through all 
the tale of Ire-land we find it the strong-hold of the 
foe. Dub-lin means dark stream, and in the old 
days was but the black stream that came from bog 
and turf, which the great road from Tar-a, then the 
home of kings, went past by means of a bridge of 
twigs. A few huts made up the town. Then the 
Danes made their home there, and when the day 
of their might had gone by, the first band of En- 
glish who came down on the land. So you see 
the I-rish race have had but small part in it. Dub- 
lin does not take up near so much ground as Lon- 
don or New York, and you will not have to take 
a long walk to get from the heart of the town to 
out-side of it, where no smoke makes the pure air 
thick, to the green, green fields that have got the 
land the name of the Em-er-ald Isle. If it be the 
fall of the year, the hills will glow with the bright 
hues of furze and heath. If you climb to the top 
of one of them, and watch the sea gulls float 'neath 
you in the air, or sweep down with their small cry to 
touch the waves of the sea that you sit in sight of, 
I am sure you will think with those that have been 
there, that Ire-land is a fair land. 

If you take horse-car or train, you can get in a 



A Deed of Blood. Hard Times Once More. 195 

short time to the sea-shore at Clon-tarf where King 
Bri-an, in his white old age, rode with his sword 
with its gold hilt in his right hand, and a cross in 
his left, and spoke brave words to his men to urge 
them to meet the Danes. 

On the skirts of Dub-lin lies a small place that 
bears the name ot Don-ny-brook. Here, in the 
month of June, the great Don-ny-brook Fair was 
held in times gone by, but no such sight as that 
must have been, can be seen now. 

A short time since, En-gland met with a sad loss 
in the death of Gen-er-al Gor-don, who was slain in 
Khar-toum, and I will tell you how this came to pass. 
If you look on your map of Af-ri-ca, right 'neath the 
Great Des-ert, you will see the land of the Sou-dan 
[Soo-dan]. This name means the Land of the 
Blacks. To get to it you would have to go to 
E-gypt, to the mouth of the Nile, and take a boat 
of strange form with great sails, such as we have 
none of here, and in this, sail up that great stream, 
which, in old days, those who dwelt on its shores 
held to be a God. And why, you ask ? Well, 
they had not heard of the one true God, and their 
land, save for the Nile, would have been a waste 
of sand, for no rain falls there. But each June the 
Nile is seen to get high, and keeps on till by the 
fall it sweeps o'er the whole Vale of the Nile. 



196 History of Ireland. 

Then it is seen to crow less, and its eoocl work 
done, goes back to its bed. All through the rest 
of the land, you would find no creeks, or springs, 
or streams, naught save a deep well here and there. 
The Vale of the Nile is at no point more than three 
miles in width, and thanks to that stream, sweeps 
down to a wide green plain, with a vast des-ert in 
the rear. As you sail up the Nile, you will see 
rows of palm trees fringe the shore, and small Ar-ab 
towns with quaint hous-es for pig-eons, in each of 
which stands a mosque [church], with a high point 
on it from which the folks are told when it is time 
to pray. Of course they all think that Ma-hom-et 
is the true God. At sun-rise and at sun-set, you 
will see long files of young girls clad in loose blue 
robes, come down to the Nile's brim, and fill their 
jars which they then place on their heads, and 
stride off with a proud gait. Each one wears a 
veil which screens her face from view. At last, 
when you come to a spot of the name of Wad-y 
Hal-fa, you will leave your boat and get on a 
cam-el, the ''ship of the des-ert," and go in that way 
till you come to a town of the name of Ber-ber, and 
then you will take to the Nile once more in a small 
steam-boat and go on till you reach the point where 
the Blue Nile comes from the great hills of A-bys- 
sin-i-a to merge its pure, clear stream with the 



A Deed of Blood. Hard Times Once More. 197 

White Nile, by which you have come. Just a 
short span up from this place where the two streams 
meet, on the Blue Nile, lies Khar-toum, the capi- 
tal of the Sou-dan. 

You have, no doubt, heard folks speak of El 
Mah-di or the False Proph-et. . He seeks to play 
a part like Ma-ho-met and build up a great king- 
dom. So for some years he dwelt, tar from men, 
in a cave, and did naught but pray, and hear the 
word of God, which he said was brought to him 
from on high.' It is now four years since he first 
put up his flag, and though he at first met with not 
much else but loss, he kept up his men's faith in 
him. The fierce free tribes who dwell in the des- 
ert and fight with swords and spears, made up the 
bulk of his force, and in truth the En-glish troops 
found them fierce foes. Gor-don held Khar-toum 
a long time, and had a strong hope that help would 
get to him in time to save him. But the Mah-di 
had made up his mind to strive with all his might to 
drive out the En-glish. En-gland sent a large 
force to help Gor-don, but they lost time by the 
chief men in En-gland try-ing to get them through 
the des-ert in-stead of by the Nile route to Khar- 
toum. To leave the Nile would have been to have 
the troops die of thirst. The air in the Sou-dan is 
not TOod, and throngs died as it was. So the foe 



1 98 History of Ireland. 

took Khar-toum ere the troops got there, and Gor- 
don was slain. He was read-ing his Bi-ble, it is 
said, when the death blow was dealt to him. He 
was a good man, who had done well all his life, 
and deep grief was felt at his death. It is now said 
that El Mah-di is dead. If he is, Khar-toum may 
be got back by the En-glish. 

For a while of late it was thought that En-gland 
and Rus-sia would go to war, too. I dare say you 
know that there is a land in A-si-a that bears the 
name of Af-ghan-is-tan. It is just north of In-di-a, 
that rich land that En-gland owns. The A-meer 
of Af-ghan-is-tan is now the friend of En-gland, and 
so his troops have gone up from their own land, 
near to a place that bears the name of the Zul-fi-car 
Pass, where the Rus-sian troops have tak-en their 
place. 

Mr. Glad-stone has had to give up his post as 
chief man in En-gland and Lord Sal-is-bur-y has his 
place. He has tried to get Rus-sia to move back 
her troops from this place, and Rus-sia says she 
will do so if the A-meer will pass his word not to 
put his troops in the spots they give up. Time 
will tell how it will all turn out. No doubt the 
Czar would like to get a short road to In-di-a, but 
no doubt, too, En-gland will fight to the last drop 
of blood ere she let him do so. 



A Deed of Blood. Hard Times Once More. 



199 



While all this goes on, in En-gland, Par-nell still 
works on for Ire-land. He does so in the best way 
he can, and that is all that the best of men can do. 
Lord Car-nar-von has been sent as Vice-roy to Ire- 
land, and it is thought that his plan is to win the 
good will of all the folks there by a mild, kind sway. 
The Prince and Prin-cess of Wales have just been 
on a tour there. 
Lord Sal-is-bur-y 
has brought a Bill 
in-to Par-lia-ment 
which he calls the 
I-rish Land Pur- 
chase Bill. It has 
been read twice 
and if it is made 
law it will be a 
great boon to the 
I-rish race, for this 
Bill says that the 
Gov-ern-ment will lend the cash on most fair 
terms to the men who live on farms to buy 
them. It is thought that the whole sum will 
not be sought for by most ; that they will have 
some them-selves and will not need a great deal 
to make the sum they need. But where they 
do need it, it will be given. If this Bill is 




ROCK OF CASH-EL. 



200 History of Ireland. 

made law and Home Rule is got by the I-rish, 
there is no fear but that the land will get to be as 
great and rich as her twin isle. Where huts now 
form an eye-sore, fair, clean, well-built homes will 
then stand, and the wail of those who die for want 
of food shall be heard no more. The rags that 
clothe the folks now in some parts of the land shall 
give place to warm clothes. When in half a score 
or a score of years some one shall take up the tale 
of Ire-land that I here bring to a close, I trust 
that naught shall be found to tell of save bright 
proud days of peace, in which great deeds have 
been wrought by her sons. 



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